Maybe They Care
by Galimatias
Summary: Casper and his cousin an "immortal" fleshie have lived with their uncles for a long time and have concluded that they do not and never will care about them. But when life destoys is it brings out the best in us. Because we have no choice but to care.
1. Life With The Trio

**When I was younger I absolutely HATED horror movies. Actually, I still do, so not much has changed. Sometimes me ad my friends are the only teenagers in kids movies, and it's mostly because they try to get me to see horror movies, but I refuse. So I just stick to Pixar and Disney. **

**But anyway, when I was born this movie came out. And later on when I was still pretty young I discovered it. It was awesome for me, 'cause it was the only "horror" movie I could stand to watch! So I wrote this for the movie. And again, if you want to know why I chose this name for my added character, or OC (whatever), check out my profile.**

o 0 o

Peals of laughter were heard throughout the halls. They were loud and sharp and everyone in the house knew who it was. Kat groaned and stuffed her head under her pillow. Casper gave up trying to block out the sounds and instead went to the attic to hide. He knew that he'd be one of the first targets for attack. Lillie, Casper's cousin, looked at the clock. It blinked bright red letters at her, almost sneering the time. 3:23 A.M. She groaned. Casper had probably already hid. That left her as the venerable target.

o 0 o

Dr. Harvey sighed. He hated his Monday sessions with the trio. They were always like this on this day of this day of the week. Why couldnt they sleep in late like any other day. He didn't even know why he asked that. The answer was so blatantly obvious. To be annoying. He cringed and rubbed his eyes. His job as a ghost therapist seemed so exiting. Talk to the dead, learn their innermost secrets, and help them cross over. But when a ghost has no unfinished business, or at least business that can't be finished, the ghost, or ghosts in this case, could get annoying. Very, very, very annoying. In fact, Dr. Harvey thought, thinking back to when he had arrived at Whipstaff Manor, there had not been one day that went by without some trick being played on either him or his daughter Kat. And even after all the tricks, dangerous situations, and headaches the ghosts put them through, it was nothing, NOTHING, compared to the treatment that the ghostly trio's niece and nephew received.

Dr. Harvey recalled one of his sessions were he had curiously asked the trio why they loved to pick on the two kids. Usually they were doing nothing wrong. They often caught Casper off guard while doing nothing more than looking through a drawer. And Lillie could easily be punished for reading a book on the couch. He realized that their situations were somewhat similar to Cinderella. A lonely girl forced to cook, clean, and be the maid of her two stepsisters and stepmother. The only difference was that there were two Cinderella's, the three step-relatives were all uncles and related to them by blood, and unlike Cinderella, there was no prince to come and save them. It was sort of sad, and every day Dr. Harvey stared the two children down, trying to find a hint of sadness or regret playing at the corners of their eyes. Surprisingly though, he rarely found any.

Casper was kind, generous, and all together nice. He was a small ghost, with a bluish complexion and a big head. Being only a child when he died, he was still innocent and playful but you could always see the maturity he had had to gain while he lived with his uncles. Because in order to survive, you needed to leave a bit of innocence behind and gain a bit of experience. He complained once in a while but mostly just kept his moth shut. He seemed content to stay far away from his uncles and nearer to his cousin and best friend, Kat.

Lillie was somewhat of a different story then Casper. Like Casper she was nice, generous and sweet. Unlike Casper she had a bit of a dark side to her. If she were pushed far enough, she _would_ fight back. She often received outrageous punishments from the Ghostly Trio for her amazing and creative traps she set for them. Whenever Dr. Harvey saw her get in trouble like this, she would leave looking a bit scared but happy with her accomplishment. And unlike Caper, she was a human. Sort of. She was half human and half Greek God. Her mother had had a one nigh stand in Greece with a man named Hades. Little did she know it was more then the name they had in common. She gave birth to a daughter with human looks but a goddess inside. Lillie always had pieces of it in her, like the fact that her normal temperature was 196.7 degrees Fahrenheit, or the fact that she would never grow old. She would live longer than any one else, probably even live forever. Of course she wasn't completely immortal. Like a human, if anything happened to her she was stuck. But if nothing changed then her age remained constant. But the fact that she never grew older meant she was stuck, just like Casper.

That one fact was one of the hardest things to understand. The Ghostly Trio hated humans. Absolutely detested them with a burning passion. It had taken his daughter Kat four months to be able to have a small talk discussion with them, and that even resulted in a fight. Dr. Harvey had been getting more and more success lately, but even then it was hard for him to go down the hall without being scared, tripped or pushed down the stairs. And of course getting called that annoying nickname that he and Kat had been dubbed the moment they had arrived. "Fleshie." Lillie, even with her special trait she was a human, was often referred to this as well. Unlike Kat and Dr. Harvey who, when together as a group, were called "The Fleshie" she was often referred to as just "fleshie". Sometimes it was skin sack, sometimes bone bag, sometimes even blood bottle. But mostly just fleshie. That one seemed to bother her the most.

Strangely though, they didn't detest her. He had asked them about this as well. The only explanation he could get was from Stretch, who merely said in his thick Brooklyn accent "Eh, its jus' cuss' she's _our_ fleshie."

"Yeah!" The other two had agreed, glaring. "But don't think for a second we've gone soft. She may be our fleshie, but she's still a fleshie."

o 0 o

His thoughts about their family issues were put on hold as a door was heard slamming open in the hall. He heard Stinky, the youngest, and smelliest, of the Trio call out, "Hey guys! Look who I found!"

"Looks like Fleshie here thought she could hide this time!" Dr. Harvey could just imagine her guilty smile as Fatso, the middle uncle scolded her. He would have loved to help her but that would have made her situation ten times worse. So he stayed put and listened to the commotion in the hall.

"Well, well, well. Hidin' from are guardians, are we?" Stretches loud, Boston accent could be heard from the hall. Stretch was the eldest of the group. He wasn't actually that old, being only in his mid-forties when he died. But that didn't stop him from being in charge. The doctor heard a young girl shriek and could hear a faint dragging sound. She was being dragged down the carpet.

"Seriously guys. It's so early. Can't you eat later?" Dr. Harvey heard her plead. She knew she was in hot oil after she hid. She had known the consequences beforehand but had taken the chance.

"Sorry Bone-Bag! But weez got ourselves an appointment today. A little place called the Whitehouse. And we don' wana be late for **dat**!" Stretch sneered, putting emphasis on the **that **as he turned his head into a sneaker and booted her down the hall. Dr. Harvey heard another shriek, this one more a shriek of pain, then heard her mumble under her breath as she went to go to the kitchen.

The door to his room opened and a very short, pretty girl peered in. She had dark hair tied up in a slightly high ponytail. Her skin was slightly tanned and her cheeks were a light pink. She looked at Dr. Harvey with big brown eyes and smiled her very large smile at the man. The first thing people might have noticed about her was her smile and eyes. The first thing Dr. Harvey noticed was that she was alive.

"Hi Dr. Harvey! Sorry to disturb you, but I figured you'd be up after, yunno. Just came to tell you that breakfast is in five."

"Thank you Lillie. I'll be down soon. And sorry about them," the jerked his head in the direction of the door." Were starting to make real progress."

The girl rolled her eyes. "**Sure** you are." She mumbled and then left as quickly as she had come.

Dr. Harvey sighed. Poor kids. He could hardly endure the treatment he received from the trio during their hour-long sessions. How did they survive that all the time? With another loud sigh, Dr. Harvey pulled on his clothes, combed his hair back and walked downstairs, bracing himself for another chaotic day.


	2. Breakfast

**I had to do at least one breakfast scene. It was important in the movie, so it sort of had to be done. **

o 0 o

"So, I've been thinkin'," Stretch said to his brothers as he chewed slowly on their regular junk-food breakfast. "Maybe, weez should get us some of dem high-tech traps to put around the house. After what happened last night n' all."

Kat, who usually never said a word to the trio, looked curiously up at them from her pancakes. "What happened last night?"

Stretch sneered. "Some moron tried to come n' rob us blind." The trio chuckled. "Little did he know that the… um…residents here were of the undead." The trio howled in laughter.

"Did you see his face when we went up to him!" Fatso added, portraying a terrified look, then broke into more laughter.

"I thought we would have killed him with the scare he got." Stinky said, giggling the whole time.

"So, you got him?" Kat asked nervously.

"Yeah, got im before he even reached the stairs! But what's the matter with you Kitty-Kat? Scared." Strech teased her, a villainous smile appearing on his face. He floated over and draped his arm around her shoulders, something he new she hated. "Don't worry Kitty-Kat. I ain't lettin' notin' bad happen to you! That's for me to do!" He let loose of one of his screechy laughs and she recoiled from his icy touch.

Stretch smiled, happy to have annoyed the girl, and returned to his seat. "The way I see it, we get one of those high tech traps and put some guns in it, right. The kind that will go off if dere triggered. Then, if the perp falls into the hole and BOOM!" He made a gun with his finger. "We blast him!"

Kat stared in horror! "You're going to kill people!" She squeaked.

Stretch glared at her. "Killing people is only good if you scare 'em to death. I jest figured we would go for the legs."

Kat relaxed a bit and went back to her pancakes. At least they weren't planning to go on a killing spree anytime soon. She looked next to her at the two figures that had been oddly silent the whole time. Both Lillie and Casper had huge bags under their eyes and looked like they might fall over and sleep on the spot. She guessed it was the trio's fault. They always made them get up early to cook breakfast for them. She glared at the trio in disgust. How could you raise kids like that? Why hadn't someone seen that while the owners of a huge manor lived a great life, their kids seemed to suffer?

Stretch seemed to notice the tired looks on the kid's faces as well. He took one huge breath and then let loose a huge yell of "WAKE UP!" Casper screamed and flew through the wall behind him. Lillie screamed and fell off the bench. After they had gotten back into their positions they glared at their eldest uncle but seemed to be a bit more awake.

Kat, however, did not keep her mouth shut and simply glared. She stared at the tall ghost for a second, stood up and shouted. "Maybe they wouldn't be so tired if you didn't make them wake up so early. God, do you guys do ANYTHING for yourselves."

Stretch seemed to be shocked for a moment then stood to face Kat, his full height slightly scaring her. "Well I'm sorry you have a problem with our parenting skills, Bone-Bag! But before you go and try to correct us, I'd like to remind you whose roof your under." He sneered at her and she glared then sat down. He had her there; he always had her there. It was their house and they could easily kick her out anytime they wanted.

Dr. Harvey finally talked for the first time that morning. "Look boys, I know that you want to be good parents, but I have to agree with Kat. Maybe some of your methods are a bit… harsh."

Lillie and Casper groaned. At least once a week this same conversation broke out. Why did they all have to talk about them? Slowly and stealthily the two children got up and crept out of the room, leaving the ghosts to scream at Dr. Harvey all they wanted.


	3. The Attic

**The attic had been an important place for Casper. Sort of figured that it should be important to them both.**

o 0 o

The attic was their hideaway. It was their safe haven and they loved it. It was quiet, warm, and full of memories. The trio never came here, but that didn't bother them. They were just glad to have some alone time. Lillie sat on the old brass bed that was shoved in the corner. After a lot of brushing and beating to get all the dust and cobwebs off, she finally had a nice resting place. Exhausted she flopped down and closed her eyes, rubbing her temples.

Casper floated slowly over to the old chest next to the bed. It was his favorite spot to rest, mostly because it held all of the information about his mother and father. When he sat near all the newspaper clippings, pictures and clothes owned by his family he felt closer to them. He sighed and looked up at his cousin. Good thing they still had each other. He loved talking to Kat, but when he needed to talk to someone who would really understand his position, he went to her first. Casper noticed a red spot on the side of her right arm.

"What's that from?" He asked, lightly touching the bump right above her elbow.

"Got booted." She replied with little to no expression in her voice. She was just glad to have his icy touch on her arm. The spot had hurt quite a bit. Because she lived with ghosts her whole life, she guessed, they didn't just feel like a breeze or evaporate at her touch. When they put a hand on her shoulder or booted her, it was the equivalent of a human's touch. If they wanted too, they could evaporate when she tried to walk through them to get away. But that rarely happened.

He removed his hand from the sore spot and sat down next to her. His head was tilted down lightly, his shoulders hunched in a look that could only be seen as defeat. Lillie looked at him. She knew that look, and she knew it well. Something was wrong and he hadn't told anyone. That look always meant he wanted to say, but never could quite get it out. It was always her job to help him ask what he needed.

"Casper? You okay?" Her voice was steady, but a hint of nervous tension could be detected in the background.

"Yeah, it's just. What if… what if Kat and Dr. Harvey are right? I mean, I've questioned our uncles parenting from time to time. But what if they're right? What if they are just bad parents? Kat told me the other day that they didn't love us and when she left we could come too."

"Kat said that!" the girl couldn't imagine Kat saying anything that radical. Lillie placed her hand on Casper's shoulder. He turned and she locked her eyes with his and talked in as much of an even tone as she could. "Casper, listen to me. Yes our uncles are not the best of parents. They have moments when they're great and others where they're… well, just horrible I guess. But trust me, we can get through this. This place, whether we like it or not, is our home. So we're just going have to endure it, together. K?"

"Okay, I guess." He sighed. "I just wish they'd show us they cared, at least just once in a while. They could do it just once, for all I care. But something would be nice."

Now it was Lillie's turn to sigh. She agreed. One little act of fondness would be nice. It would make they're time here more bearable if she they knew the people they lived with cared. But every day was the same. No affection. Just a boot out the door to wake them up, and laughter to "lull" them asleep.

Casper smiled at her. Poor girl, he thought. It was hard enough for him, being a ghost. They could kick him to Paris if they wanted, and he'd never get a scratch. But she was a fleshie. One of the things most hated by they're uncles. The treatment she received was sometimes unwelcoming, like a reminder that she wasn't supposed to be there. And yet _she_ was comforting _him_! Shouldn't that be his job? After all he was the oldest, sort of. Actually, Lillie was older then him, by a good year. She gained her "immortality" when she was fifteen. Casper may have been younger in his immortal state, but was older in his physical state. One hundred and two years to be exact. It was hard to be the youngest in the family, but even harder to be the youngest in _they're _family. And in this family, she was no doubt the youngest.

They're train of thought was broken as the Ghostly Trio could be heard shouting they're goodbyes.

"Bye Bone-Bags! Oh, by the way. Bulb- Head and Fleshie, you forget to clean dishes today and you are gonna sleep in the shed!" They're laughter continued as they flew out of the house and out to they're daily scare.

"What creeps! What absolute creeps! " Yelled Kat, storming up the attic stairs. She was infuriated. How could two people be treated so terribly? Everything about it seemed wrong. So wrong. She found Casper and Lillie in the position they had last been in. Casper was sitting on the bed while Lillie was almost asleep on her back.

"Hey guys." Kat said, taking her tone down a bit. "How are you doing?"

"Fine, as usual." Replied Lillie. She and Casper looked exhausted. And it wasn't just because of the wakeup calls. The trio were people who would wear you down. They had already begun breaking Kat's father. He looked more tired then ever these days, and it was sometimes hard to watch him. Kat loved where they lived, but sometimes just wanted to leave.

"Look, I know it's hard living here," Kat began. She wanted to see how this conversation would go. "But don't worry. We're thinking of ways to get you guys out." That made Lillie sit up strait.

"Get us out?"

"Yeah."

"No. Sorry Kat but we aren't leaving." She crossed her arms over her chest in mild stubbornness. Then her face softened. "Listen Kat. I know it's hard to understand, I do. You're right about the trio. They don't act like they love us. At all. But when we were smaller, they had one or two things that they did to show us they cared. Really. Besides, this is our home. And even if they don't love us. We love them. A lot. Or at least I do." She said this last part with a glance towards Casper, a questioning look covering her features.

"Hey, don't give that look to me." He teased her, punching her lightly on the shoulder. "I'm with you all the way!"

"Wait, wait, wait. Hold on a minute. They actually had their moments. What's that supposed to mean?"

Both Casper and Lillie got devious looks on their faces. "We probably shouldn't tell you this." Said Casper quietly, even though there was no one to hear.

"No, we definitely shouldn't tell you this. You know how they get when we tell about their personal lives." They both snorted, then Lillie pointed a finger to herself. "Me first?"


	4. Stories

**I always thought that you cant live with a person for this many years and never show at least a minute of your caring side, even if you caring side is close to nothing like the Trio's **_**seems**_** to be. **

o 0 o

"Me first?" she asked.

"Sure!" he replied.

"Okay," she began, criss-crossing her legs on the bed. "How to begin? Well, me and Casper were playing a board game in the playroom." She pointed to the door across the room from them, too indicate location. "Casper had been kicking my butt. I was never to good at board games." She smirked, them continued. "Caper won the last game of the day and he got all exited. He jumped up and twirled around then accidentally hit the edge of a table."

"Wait," Kat stopped her, shaking her head. Ghosts can't hit things.

"Usually not. But if they aren't paying attention, and if their energy levels get too high, then they become more of a human substance then a ghost substance."

"Happens to all new ghosts. I know I was around 100 by then, but hey, this stuff is harder then you think." Casper added, his cheeks going a bit red.

"Anyway, that was the first day that I saw ghosts… bleed." Lillie shuddered. "Ghosts don't bleed blood, like you or me." She explained to Kat. "They bleed echto. It takes a while for a ghost to become completely non-tangible when they want, that way accidents never happen. But like we said, Casper was exited and wasn't paying attention.

"I've never really liked blood," she shuddered again. "And Casper's was no different. It was gooey and it glowed, but while that sounds cool, it was still leaking out of a giant gash in his arm." Lillie looked like she was going to throw up at the memory.

"You should have seen me. I was more nervous then Casper. In fact, I was freaking out. I ran all over the house until I ran into my uncles and fell on my face. They looked so mad until they saw I was freaked out and was crying a ton. I had to drag Stretch all the way to the attic. Then he started to freak out." She giggled.

"Wait, wait, wait. You bumped into them. You can't bump into ghosts. You go through ghosts. They're air, not skin and bones." Kat said.

"Well, most people can't touch ghosts. But, I can. I have no idea why. But… I guess it's just because either I've lived with them since birth or because of my… condition." She sighed. They all knew she meant because of whose kid she was. She never liked to mention that too much. It was embarrassing.

"Well, anywho… Stretch had to stitch Casper up that night, after a huge chase."

"Never liked needles." He explained. Kat giggled. It was ridiculous to think a ghost didn't like needles. She turned to Casper.

"Neither of us did. I almost fainted at the sight of it!" Lillie giggled. "ok. I'm done with my story."

"So because I assume your taking turns, what's her story?" She jutted her thumb out at Lillie.

"Okay, let's see. Lillie and I went for a hike in the woods. There's one that's about a mile away from our house. You can see it from the balcony in my room. Anyway, we went for a hike and we reached a particularly rocky section. I could just float over, so it was no problem for me, but Lillie was only six, and she's human, and really stubborn. I wanted to help her, but she kept on insisting that she was fine, she could handle herself. That was until she tripped. She had hit a really slippery rock and she sprained her ankle pretty badly. Any more of a fall and it would have been broken.'

"This time, it was my turn to freak out. Her ankle didn't look right. It was flopping around in this unnatural way." This time, it was Casper's turn to shudder. "I ran to get my uncles. When they got to Lillie, she was in the same position. Just sitting and waiting, without a care in the world."

"So blood freaks you out, but not an unnaturally twisted ankle?" Kat asked. Lillie just shrugged.

"Well. They were only sort of freaking out. It wasn't as big of a deal as me getting stitches. But when she stared to ask questions, then they started to freak out!"

"Questions?" Kat cocked her head. Casper laughed.

"Yeah, you should have seen Stretch's face when she asked stuff like," he raised his voice to do a terrible impression of hers. "Uncle Stretch, why can't I feel my leg? And, Uncle Fatso and Uncle Stinky, why is my ankle turning blue? Oh and my favorite, hey Uncle Stretch, why is my ankle flopping around so much?"

Kat was laughing hard along with Lillie.

"But they got you to the couch and tied up your ankle and hardly bothered you for days. And after three days, when you could walk again and the swelling had gone down, they went back to their old ways with you."

"See Kat, we can't leave. We rely on them. They're all we have left."

"What about me." She demanded.

"We love you Kat." Casper said firmly, but not meanly. "But we can't just leave our family."

And somehow Kat understood. That is, she understood until the trio came home the next day.


	5. Return Home

The day the Trio came home the house had been busily preparing for them. They had had the day to clean and they had wasted it doing things they wanted to do. So the two kids, along with the volunteered help of the Harvey's, cleaned up the house in an hour. It was excruciatingly hard work, but in the end, they succeeded. And by the time the Trio arrived home, the two children were asleep, Kat had past out on the couch, and Dr. Harvey was almost asleep on his desk. The quiet had been nice, but as soon as the front door was blown open the Harvey's knew it had been too good to be true.

"Hey, Short-Sheet, Bone-Bag! We're baaaack!" Screamed the trio, evil smiles forming on their faces. No response came. They looked around the house. Everything was neat and spotless. The trio was sure that it had taken quite a bit of work to accomplish, and even less time to mess it up again. They heard a noise behind them and turned. Kat was staggering down the hall rubbing her eyes. She was very tired it seemed. But she woke up when the trio disappeared and popped up behind her, causing her to almost scream.

"God, you guys are impossible." She whispered. "And weren't you supposed to be back at 4:00?"

"Yeah, what's yer point fleshie?" snarled Stretch.

"It's noon. Four hours too early!" She snapped back, her voice still in a hushed tone.

"Will you stop dat?" Snapped Stinky, crossing his arms.

"Stop what?"

"Whispering. It's getting on our nerves." Bellowed Fatso in his loud baritone voice.

"Sshhh." Hissed Kat. She pointed to Casper's room with one hand and Lillie's with the other. "They are exhausted. They have only gotten about two hours of sleep a night on account of you and I don't plan on waking them up anytime soon."

"Why, dose lazy glow worms. We'll teach dem to sleep on the job." Yelled Stretch. He floated through Casper's door while Fatso and Stinky floated through Lillie's.

Kat knew what was coming. She stood there, her ears perked. Then she sighed and started the silent countdown in her head.

5

4

3

2…

"Aaah!"

"Ow!"

"Really! Did you have to push me?"

"Hey!"

"I'm going! I'm going!"

"Ok! Ok! I'm up!"

Lillie's door slammed open and Fatso and Stinky came out dragging a tripping Lillie with them. Fatso in front pulling her arm and Stinky in back giving her a kick every so often if she slowed down which only made her stumble even more. Right after they had gotten into the hall Stretch zipped through the wall dragging a helpless Casper by the tail. The Trio threw their captors down; Lillie stumbled backwards before falling on her butt, and then caught Casper in her arms. Before either of them could get up Stretch was in their faces with his brothers right behind them.

"What do you two 'tink you was doin', huh?"

"Well, we were really tired…" Lillie was explaining, her voice getting higher with fear. This was no time to talk back.

"What was dat! Are you back talkin' me FLESHIE!"

"No of course not!" She almost squeaked. All this time she and Casper had been slowly backing up and he was advancing upon them, so the space between them was never increased.

"No, Uncle Stretch! Y-y-you don't understand. We were just…" Casper tried to explain but quickly regretted it.

"What! You to Bulb-Brain! I didn't take you for the disobedient type!"

"He wasn't…" Lillie started to say, getting a small amount of courage.

"Shadup, BONE-BAG! Now you two listen up. We want this house spotless, got it! Tonight were tinking of goin out. And if company comes over, we don't want them to see this mess."

"But you never have company over." Snapped Lillie.

"And what mess? We just cleaned everything. And besides." Casper added.

Stretch turned slowly with a huge grin on his face. "Boys?"

With shrieks of laughter the other two shot through the house knowing over and messing up EVERYTHING until even the hall they were standing in looked like a mess.

"Now you two's finish your chores. And no… MORE…** SLACKING!**" He screamed, the ghost screamed. Then he and his brothers left through the window laughing, leaving an enraged Kat and two very tired children behind.


	6. Making the Traps and Getting Sick

I needed something to make poor Lillie a bit more venerable. I know it's mean of me (I'm evil!) but I thought that if the Trio needs to show their "caring side" and if something bad is going to happen (read summary) then something in the story has to make it ten times worse. Just builds extra drama!

The next day was rainy and cold. Water poured down from the sky and covered the ground, making the firm hard soil into slippery fields of mud. No one wanted to be out that day. Not even the ghosts, who were never affected from rain. But the humans of the house were very careful to stay out of the Trio's way all afternoon, with a fear of being kicked into the storm.

But the rain, which the Trio called "just a drizzle" didn't stop them from sending the little ghost boy and little human girl out. They were kicked outside with nothing but a shovel each and were given strict directions not to come back in until ten very deep holes were dug in random places around the manor. The Trio planned on setting their traps up soon.

It was freezing outside. And Lillie, even with her temperature over 100 degrees, was shivering so much, she could hardly hold the shovel. Water and her didn't mix very well. same with her and cold. Both together were just a nightmare. Casper tried to warm her up as best he could, but when your skin has a temperature under 0, you can't do much. He had wanted to grab her a coat, since she hadn't been given one, but that just resulted in being slingshot out the door.

"I can't believe they would go so low. I mean doing this is the sun would be bad, but in the rain, in the middle of fall. That's ridiculous."

"Y-y-y-yeah. C-c-c-casp-p-er. J-j-just ridiculous." Lillie replied. She got a better grip on her shovel and tried to dig faster. They were only on hole three, and she wanted to be inside as soon as possible. She thought of sitting in her favorite chair with a book and a tall glass of warm tea. Then she stopped. She couldn't even think about things like that at the present moment. She rubbed her arms and them shoveled even faster.

"Hey Lillie, you okay." Lillie looked up. Casper's blue eyes were filled with worry. He was suddenly very scared. She knew why. This was almost exactly the same way he died. Except that had been in winter after a long day of sledding. He had gotten a very high fever, one that even doctor's these days couldn't fix easily. She would have told him that she couldn't die, but that would be a lie. A big fat lie. She could die. Just not easily.

"C-c-casper, I am f-f-f-fine. J-just a b-b-b-it c-c-cold. That's all." She gave him her best smile that she could at the moment and winked. "Remember, it's n-n-not easy for m-m-me t-t-t-to g-g-g-get sick.

That seemed to make him go at ease, just a bit. Together they finished all the rest of the holes. It had taken them seven hours. By the time they were finished it was already getting very dark. Lillie checked her watch. 7:47. Wonderful. By now she had used all her energy and Caper had to help Lillie stumble home. She had a splitting headache and wasn't seeing strait. He had tried to carry her home after she had announced that she couldn't get out of the last hole they had dug because the walls were spinning. But she was just too stubborn, so with only one arm being supported, they both finally reached the house.

Casper took her through the back door and into the kitchen. He sat her down on one of the benches that surrounded the table, where she immediately put her head down and tried to fall asleep. It almost worked until Casper sat her up and put a thermometer in her mouth.

"Whaz thith fow?" She mumbled.

"Just checking. Mint or chamomile, he asked her, holding up two different tea bags.

"Mint." Wow did her head hurt. "And some Advil."

"Sorry Lill. You know only an adult can give you that. I can ask one of our uncles."

"No!" She would have screamed if her throat didn't hurt. But because it did, all that came out was a squeak.

"You sure?"

"Yes. Positively sure. All I need is sleep."

"Okay, your call. Oh, and put that thermometer in your mouth. No wonder you were speaking correctly."

Normally, Lillie would have protested, but she was just so tired. She couldn't figure out why. That was until Casper handed her her tea and checked her temperature.

"Wow!" He almost did a back flip. "I've seen you get high fevers before. I mean, your temperatures already so high. But this, this is just. Well it's… really high."

"Why, what's it say?" she mumbled, wishing all the while he wouldn't talk so loud.

"457.5 degrees Fahrenheit!"

Oh wow. That had to be her personal high score. The highest she had ever reached was 386.7 degrees Fahrenheit.

"Wow," Casper said again. Then in a more worried tone, "Uncle Stretch is gonna kill you for this."

Lillie nodded. She knew that getting sick wasn't her fault. In fact, if she had to blame anybody she'd blame her uncles. They were the ones that sent her out in the first place. But as long as she was unable to do her chores, then everything was her fault. She knew, whether she was sick or not, they were going to treat her the same as they always did.

She sighed, but this was the worse she had ever been. She had never been this sick before. Come to think about it, she didn't think she had ever been really sick while she was with her uncles. They didn't know what to do with a sick human, all they knew how to do was help with sick ghosts, and that never happened. She could understand why it might stress them out a lot though. Casper had the same thing and died. They might think she would have the same thing happen to her. But she couldn't come back as a ghost. When she was born with the power to live forever If not hurt terminally, that was almost like trading in the ability to turn into a ghost.

While she thought, another shot of pain hit her head, she groaned and rubbed her temples.

"Help me out, will you Casper? I think I have to lie down." She was whispering now, trying to use as little energy as possible.

Casper nodded, and together they climbed the stairs. They parted ways at their doors, each wishing each other a good nights sleep before retreating to the warmth of their mattresses and comforters. Casper slept all night, curled up next to Kat who shared his room. She had taken it when she first moved in with her father, and since there were no others available, the two made the agreement to just share it.

Lillie on the other hand had one of the worst nights of her life. The thunder roared outside and caused her head to pound. Finally, after hours of tossing and turning, she fell asleep.


	7. Goodnight Kiss

**I needed to show that Stretch cared, even in the slightest way. He's possibly the meanest but will always be my, and plenty of other people's, favorites. The end of the chapter was my favorite!**

o 0 o

The next morning was beautiful. A chipper fall day, with blue skies and a bright sun. Kat and Casper were up first and were busily making pancakes when Dr. Harvey joined them. When the two humans and a ghost had finally settled down to eat their feast loud singing could be heard above them. They all groaned. It was going to be another one of those days.

As the Trio settled down on their side of the table, they looked at the looks being shot at them and smiled. Then their smiles quickly disappeared. Something was wrong. They all subconsciously counted the people across from them and saw that one small family member was missing. And that family member was late to start doing her chores, which included helping Casper give them breakfast.

"Hey, where's the Skin-Sack?" Asked Stretch.

"Sleeping in it looks like." Added Stinky, an annoyed tone in his voice.

"And after all we've done for the little Blood-Bottle." Added Fatso, who wasn't entirely kidding.

"Well, gentleman, I think this means we've got ourselves a bit of a wakeup call to do!" Stretch sneered, a malicious grin spreading across his face.

"More like a wakeup scare!" Said Stinky, morphing his hand into a mouth spray bottle and spritzing some green, foul smelling mouth spray into the back of his throat.

"Oooh! I just love a good morning exercise. Nothing like a good scare to loosen up the old lungs, if I had them." Fasto said. All three got ready to charge up stairs when a shout was heard.

"STOP!" yelled Casper, blocking their path. Big mistake.

"Stop, STOP! How dare you say stop ta us!" Yelled Stretch then pushed Casper aside and sped up the steps, all the while telling Casper of what he would do to him if he ever told him to stop again.

Stretch zipped down the hall and into Lillie's room. Lillie was still pretty much unconscious. Her head was still pounding and even when she closed her eyes everything spun. She was unbearably hot, but when she took off her covers she was unbearably cold. She was shivering uncontrollably and was scared. She had never felt like this before. She hated it.

The only reason she knew Stretch was in her room was when she felt the room get colder and heard a muttering, but even if she had wanted too, she couldn't lift her head and look.

"Fleshie! Wake up. I want my meal, and you are holding that up!"

She didn't respond. Not that she wanted too. But still, she didn't have the energy to tell him to go away.

She heard Stretch growl as she buried herself deeper into the covers. They were so warm and at the moment were the only thing from keeping her from shivering her skin off.

That was, they **were **the only things until they were ripped off her.

"GET UP!" Her uncle screamed.

Oh, did that hurt. She put her head under her pillow to prevent her head from splitting open. Next thing she knew, that was gone. Why did he have to do this now? Couldn't he see that she was sick? But she guessed not when she felt his cold hand grab her arms painfully tight and hoist her up. And that was it. Lillie was too sick at this point to do anything. She knew she was sick before, but until that moment, she hadn't fully known just how sick she was. Because when stretch picked her up, she almost collapsed onto the floor.

Fortunately, although he hadn't expected it, Stretch caught her. She heard him mutter, "what the hell?" as he held her arms like she was a puppet. But she was too tired to respond and she leaned against him. He was so tall that her head only went up to about his stomach, but she leaned against him anyway, his cold skin felt good on her head. Those five seconds of relief was gone though when her placed her back down in bed and put his cold hand on her forehead. It turned red.

He sped out of the room to get the thermometer. It read 538.2. This was bad. Stretch sped downstairs ignoring his brother's questions of their niece's location. He went right up to Casper and asked him simply, "What was her temperature last night?"

"457.5. Why?"

"Cuz she jus' went up another… umm." He worked out the math in his head. "80.7 degrees." He finally concluded.

"What!" they all shouted. Everyone, ghost or not, ran up the Lillie's room. She was in the same position as before, her breathing was shallow and ragged and she was muttering to herself. Everyone was talking and no one was giving her head a break. She used all of her energy and sat up slowly in bed. No one noticed her. She took a deep breath and said in her most threatening voice, "You can stay all you want, but if you decide to hang around, please SHUT YOUR MOUTH'S!" Everyone stared at her, but she didn't care. She had gotten the quiet she wanted. She lay down and closed her eyes again.

The ghosts in the room had made the atmosphere considerably colder, which at the moment was great. Stinky was the first to talk.

"Ya think we should get a doctor? I mean, she's really sick!"

"Are ya crazy?" Said Stretch, morphing his head into a sledgehammer and hitting him on the head. "What would they say when they saw her temperature?"

"They'd think she was a freak!" Stinky added, then with a giggle, "If she wasn't one already!"

The others laughed with him, until Lillie mumbled something that sounded like _shut up_. "Listen her, Blood Bank, you are not movin' from this position. You hear me!" Stretch ordered. "And since gettin' a doctor is out of da question, den I guess you're under our care for da next couple of weeks."

At that Lillie sat up. Everyone could tell that even that movement had taken extreme amounts of energy. Her face was a pale pasty color, her eyes looked dull, instead of their usual bright gleam, and her breathing was becoming more and more forced, like she needed to remind herself to do it. It scared her uncles quite a bit, but they never once let her see that. But as soon as she opened her mouth, their worry went down.

"Oh no. Not you guys." She squeaked.

Their jaws dropped. They had never heard her say anything against them before. Stretch was the first to recover. He glared at her as he pushed the other uncles jaws back up from the floors.

"Yeah us. You got a problem wit dat Fleshie?" His voice went from its usual angry boom to a low, threatening and ominous tone.

"N-n-no Uncle Stretch." She stammered. Wow, when he wanted to be threatening he really could be threatening.

"Good! Now that we got dat settled, how do we make medicine? Was it two rat-tails, one rotten banana and three slugs? Or was it one rat tail, three rotten banana's and two slugs." Stinky thought too himself. Lillie's now pasty complexion turned a bit greener and her knees went up protectively too her chest.

Stretch could tell she was horrified by what Stinky was undoubtedly going to force her to drink, but she also looked a bit scared. She had never really gotten sick when she was with her uncles. Now, all this talk about her ending up like Casper was making her more nervous by the minute. She was a demi-god. And demi-gods trade in the ability to be ghosts for the chance to be "immortal". He remembered when she had told him this. She had been to young too understand it, but had known. And even though he pushed her to every limit there was, he still protected her. He just didn't let anyone (especially her) see that.

While Stretch thought of ways to help Lillie, the others were thinking the same thing. Stinky was thinking of more concoctions, Kat and Dr. Harvey were insisting of the hospital, Fatso thought she needed soup and Casper was constantly asking Lillie how she felt, obviously freaking out. Lillie was still sitting on her bed, knees up to her chin, her face getting greener by the second, and a look of pure horror and confusion on her face. It was getting louder and louder as everyone started to fight about what to do. "SHUT UP!" The loud voice conquered all the others and the rest of them died down. "Thank you," Stretch said. "Now, here is what were gonna do. Firstly, we ain't gonna freak out! It'll just make tings worse. Second, we're gonna need medicine. Doc, you pick that up. Just say that you have a… niece. And that she has a fever. Sorry Stinkmeister, she won't be needing any of your meds." Stinky's face fell.

"Not even a little bit of dem. Dey work you know."

"Fine, but not too much." Lillie opened her mouth to protest but Stretch cut her off. "You, do not speak, do not move, do not do anything. You are staying in that exact spot until your better. You understand?" She nodded her head, and then squeezed her eyes shut. Bad idea, nodding. "Good. Fatso, bring her some soup or somtin. You know what to do. Casper, you keep and I are gonna keep an eye on her. Okay everyone, let's go. Fleshie here needs to recover from whatever the hell she has." Casper and Kat were the first to leave and Stinky and Fatso were not far behind them.

Lillie slumped under the covers and almost instantly fell asleep. But she was awake long enough to feel something cool touch her forehead, like a secretive good night kiss and then the covers were tucked in around her. Whoever was doing this was sure she was asleep, but she didn't dare open her eyes to see who it was. Even so, she couldn't help but smile. And then she drifted off to sleep.


	8. Getting Better?

**Bet you thought I was dead right! Well, guess what! I'm still writing and this story is not finished yet! Enjoy this chapter. And read the end, there's a question that you can answer in the comments about the next chapter.**

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As soon as sleep had hit her, it had stayed. She slept almost continuously for two days, only drifting in and out of consciousness to take medicine or be coaxed into drinking _something_. All she wanted to do was sleep and all they wanted her to do was wake up. Sometimes it was a battle just to make her open her eyes. And it was a war to get her to take just a sip of water or down human medicine. And if they wanted to make her take one of Stinky's concoctions it became a reenactment of the revolution.

"Wake up!" Stretch shouted at the girl, shaking her shoulders and screaming in her face. All she did was mumble something about a cooking show and a chicken. "Fine! Boys?" Stretch grinned evilly at his two brothers who gave the same smile back. They zipped back downstairs and came up again with a huge bucket of water. Pieces of ice floated at the top and the water steamed a bit when it hit the room, contrasting the heat radiating in waves off of her body. For this reason everyone shut their doors as well as hers when they left the house and kept all window's open. Even though the weather outside was cold and crisp, the extra heat from her fever heated the entire house.

Stinky and Fatso approached Lillie with the bucket, waiting eagerly for their brother's signal. Stretch thought for a moment then picked her up by the arms. She swayed two and fro like a marionette does when it's strings are loose. He didn't exactly want to do this to her, but he needed her awake and if this was the only way then so be it.

Not that he completely minded anyway, it was almost his nature to act the way he did. But doing this to her in this state, that was really below him. And he knew. _Oh well_, he though, shrugging inwardly. _She would have to deal. 'Sides, this should cool her off quiet a bit. _

"Okay boys. Go ahead." Stretch grinned as he heard his brothers delighted cackles. They quickly came forward. Stretch could hear the water sloshing around in the bucket and the ice hitting the sides with soft clinks. And then they poured it all over her. He didn't get wet of course; he was a ghost after all. But for a moment he lost his eyesight behind a sudden cloud of steam. When the cold water touched her it had let off such a reaction, hot vs. cold, and had created a fog so thick you could cut it. But even if he couldn't see through it, he sure could hear from it.

"Are you guys insane!" Came the hoarse cry from the person whose arms he was still holding. She was shivering so much his arms were vibrating. He felt a twinge of guilt but that resided with the thought that now she was awake.

"Listen blood bottle. Weze is tryin to help you. So you'd better show us some respect."

"But you just dumped ice water all over me!"

"And now I'm sure you'll be showing us more respect." He scolded her. She didn't reply, but he heard her mumble something under her breath. He decided not to ask what she said to try and not get mad at this moment. The fog was finally clearing away through the window and the room looked more like a sauna now. He could make out the outline of Fatso and Stinky in front of him and the outline of the girl who was being supported by his grip.

He looked down at her more closely. Her face was still flushed from fever and she was soaked. The water was quickly evaporating under the extreme amounts of heat, but that didn't stop her from being cold. He let go of her so she didn't have to endure his icy grip. She swayed for a moment but then found her footing and stood next to him hunched over with a grimace of pain and sickness on her face. She wasn't getting any better that's for sure. She must have noticed that he was looking over at her because she turned to glare at him.

"Why did you guys come up here anyway?" He was slightly disturbed by the weakness of her voice, but kept his expression stagnate. The less she knew the better off they would all be.

"Well, first off, medicine."

"Oh no. I thought I told you. I'm not taking that stuff. No offense Stinky."

"Oh you'll take it al right."

"Oh really?"

"Yes really!"

Stretch and Lillie stared at each other, trying to intimidate each other into doing what the other wanted. Lillie was first to surrender. She sighed tiredly ad slumped back down, sitting hunched on the bed.

"Just give me that sewer water already."

"It is so much more then sewer water." Stinky sniffed.

"WHOAH, WHOAH WHOAH. WHAT DO YOU MEAN NOT ONLY SEWER WA-" and before she could end her sentence the spoon was shoved in her mouth. She sat there, gagging on the foul liquid for about five minutes. All that time none of the spirits left their posts from around her, making sure the concoction was taken, and not spit out when an eye was turned. But finally she reluctantly swallowed and continued to try and get the taste off her tongue, gagging more all the time.

"Oh please, it's not that bad." Fatso scoffed. She glared at him.

"Then why don't you eat it."

"Don't wana die again."

She rolled her eyes. "Okay. Can I get up now."

"No way, Fleshie! Yer stayin here!" Stretch responded. He turned back to his brothers. "Thermometer." He ordered. One of them handed him a thermometer from nowhere and Stretch tugged Lillie's hair back. She shrieked at the fast movement and as she did the thermometer was put under her tongue. He waited for a minute, clamping her moth down. Then after a beep was heard he let go of her and she fell back, rubbing her head and glaring at him. He checked the thermometer. "420.1" Wow, you are getting better. Look at that." He sneered. "I guess you just looked worse then you were. So in about two days you'll be ready to get back to work!"

"Oh joy. Now let me rest."

"Fine fine. C'mon boys. Lets go and let grumpy get her beauty sleep." She glared again before tucking her head under the covers. And in a bout thirty seconds low breathing was heard, and she was in a deep sleep. Stretch was about to leave when he looked back at her and smiled. Even if she was a fleshie, none of them could help but like her. And he would never admit it, none of them would, but it would be nice to have her up and running again soon.

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**Hi! I hope you liked the chapter. Now here is the question about how the next chapter will be.**

**How should the relationship between the uncles and Lillie be? I know that it's basically the same as his relationship with Casper. In fact because she's a "Fleshie" it can be worse. But she's been sick and there have to be a **_**few**_** nice moments. And for that matter what would be some good moments you would want to see between Casper and the uncles?**

**And second, do you want Lillie to get better next chapter. She will be getting worse again, that how fevers work. They go down and up. But should it go down in the next chapter and should they just put her to work and tire her out liket hey always did.**

**Anything else you would like to see in further chapters, tell me! **

**Thanks!**


	9. Remembering and Trying Not To

**I am sooooo sorry for leaving everyone hanging. Yes it has been a while. Am I giving this up? No! I DO NOT GIVE UP FAN FICS! IT'S BAD ENOUGH WHEN OTHERS DO IT! WHY WOULD I TORTURE SOME POOR PEOPLE! I'M TO KIND AND SWEET FOR THAT (sort of)! I caught the infamous disease called **_**writers block**_**! Gasp! Anyway, I want to thank Dreamcreator for this one. So thank you! You saved me from eternal writers block! And don't worry, I will try to show more of Casper's past. So anyway here is chapter 9. Hope you like it.**

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Dr. Harvey was a therapist. And therapists are observant. They see those small things that many people fail to see. And sometimes they look closer at the obvious. And during the time of Lillie being sick he started to notice more and more about her and the trio. For one, the trio was obnoxious. But that one he had known the moment he stepped in the front door. Second, the trio, while they might show signs of "caring", masked all of their actions with their obnoxious antics. He hadn't fully figured out if they cared or not. SO far it seemed like the trio wanted Lillie back on her feet for their own personal gain. But he was a therapist and he kept a constant eye on them.

He also observed Lillie. She had seemed to be recovering. The other morning her fever had gone down but shot back up the same night. It was unpredictable and annoying. The trio wasn't doing much to help. But from the start they had left a lot of it to the poor Doctor. And as the days went by they seemed to be getting back to their old life. They would check on Lillie in the morning and put their worst threats on her, hoping it would scare her enough to keep her in her spot to speedup her recovery. They were right about that. She seemed to recover quicker while resting, but that was common knowledge. And although her fever spiked every night it spiked less and less.

The trio thought it was due to their threats. But the doctors observations told him otherwise. Over the days he noticed something he had never seen. Lillie and Casper were always so active, cleaning and cooking and running around the house. In fact, he had hardly seen one day where they were given a day off. And now that Lillie had so many days off he could see what her true nature was.

And his conclusion was that she was the most restless person on earth. While the trio was out and Casper was busy and Kat was at school he gave her books and puzzles and whatever he could to keep her mind busy. While that did settle her a bit it never seemed to be enough. Her mind would try and try to keep itself entertained, but in the end her body was shouting at her to move. She had to move, to be able to be not only mindfully busy but physically as well. On more then one occasion Doctor Harvey found a book he had given her only a few hours ago finish and discarded on the now empty bed.

He would never tell the trio that she had moved. That would make her time worse. And God knows she needed that. He just kept reminding himself to check on her. But if he spent to long on his work and got caught up she could easily sneak out using the time span he gave her.

On one hand, moving meant she was getting better. On the other, it was just plain annoying.

It had been two days since his discovery. And Lillie definitely was recovering. He had checked on her just an hour ago. And now he was checking on her again. By tomorrow she would be up on her feet once again. _If she's not up now, _he thought, climbing the tall staircase. He walked down the hallway past the trio's room, past his room and just past and across from Casper and Kat's room to Lillie's room. The door was closed, a good sign, and heat was radiating from under the door, also a good sign.

He placed his hand on the knob, stunned for a moment by how hot the metal was. He shook it off and turned the knob.

The room was dark. All the lights were turned off and in the twilight outside, hardly any light leaked through. The windows were open and a soft breeze was fluttering through the transparent curtains. He took a step forward, preparing to advance into the room and turn on the light, checking if she was there or not. And in doing so he almost crashed on the floor. He looked down at what he had almost tripped on and groaned. She was smart. That was for sure. She knew she produced a lot of heat. She knew he would check on her. And so she had placed a radiator right by the door, producing a similar heat and making it seem as though she was there. She stepped out of the room and rubbed his temples in frustration.

Let the hunt begin.

He just hoped he could find her before the trio did.

Then the massacre would start.

o0o

"Casper?"

"Hm?"

"What do you suppose my mother was like?"

Lillie had snuck out just after the doctor had checked on her and now she and Casper were relaxing and whispering in the attic. Lillie was on the bed, lying down and Casper was sitting on the chest, thumbing through a family album he had found.

"Your mother?" He looked up at her. She had never asked a question like that. Not to Casper. Not to doctor Harvey. And especially not to the trio. He looked back at the album in his hands. _Oh! That must have sparked it!_ He thought. She must have seen him looking at pictures of his father and mother. Since she would never meet her father she must have been curious about the other parent. "I don't know. What do you think she was like?"

"I don't know. I always thought she would be sorta… bad."

"Bad?" He had never thought of anyone calling their own mother bad.

"Yeah." She looked at his shocked expression and chuckled darkly. "Yeah. I know. Weird right. But I mean look what she did. She had me, and obvious accident, and then she dumps me on our Uncles. And then she goes off and disappears. What mother would do that?"

There was silence between the two.

"Don't you think she _ever _loved you?" Casper asked, breaking the wall of quiet between them Lillie snorted.

"She left me here didn't she?" She rolled on her side, supporting her head on her palm. "Face it Casper. Who would actually leave us here? I know I always say that I think they care about us but look at the facts. They still call me _Fleshie!_ I feel unwanted 24/7 because of that stupid nickname." She signed, letting out some of the anger. "Maybe it's just my fever talking, although I should be better by tomorrow, but I want to know if they _really_ do care." She covered her face with her hands. "They never even showed us any appreciation when they were alive. Or at least I don't think they did. I never met our Uncles when they were alive. All I know is that my mother was the youngest and outlived them. And then she split." She chuckled again and then peeked through her fingers and then took her hands away all together, looking at Casper. "So what have you got there Cas?"

"Just an album." He said quietly. She looked closer. He was staring at a picture of a beautiful woman. She had Shoulder length blonde hair in gentle perfect curls. Her face was free, not a hint of sternness showed on it. She looked so happy. She was sitting on a bench near a piano wearing a frilly dress. Because of the lack of color in the old photo she had no idea of the dresses color. But when she looked at the woman's eyes she almost knew that they were blue. They resembled Casper's eyes perfectly.

"Is that your mother?"

"I think so. I don't remember her at all."

"Casper you're getting that voice again."

"What voice? I don't have a voice."

"The it's all my fault voice? Yes, you do have a voice. That voice. Right now."

He looked ready to fight but then considered her words and just shook his head in defeat. He went back to staring at the picture, tracing the woman's chiseled facial features with his finger, almost as if he was trying to memorize very line that rested there.

"Casper." No response. "Casper. Listen. Look at me." She tilted his head up and stared at his stunningly blue eyes, now filling with salty tears. "Casper. Give it time. You're being to hard on yourself. The memories _will_ come."

He smiled at her and gave a sad nod, but went back to tracing the nameless woman's face all the same. There was silence again.

"Hey Lillie?" Casper asked, being the first to break the silence once again.

"Hm."

"Do you think _you_ will ever remember _your_ mother?"

Lillie stiffened. That was a hard question to answer. Her mother had dropped her here when she was very young. Which would make it not too impossible to remember so far back. But what if it wasn't completely impossible. She had forever to remember. Who knows? One day a picture of the woman might pop up. But the chances of that were low. The trio had never been close to their sister like they had to their other brother, Casper's father. So the chances of them saving a memory of something they would rather not remember was very low. And because of that relationship she knew she was in no danger of having Stretch talk about her any time soon. But that was fine. She really didn't want to remember the woman.

Or did she.

She rubbed her temples in confusion, mulling over Casper's question. "No." she decided as her final response. "No I don't."

Casper looked sad and stared down at the picture once again. He flipped the page, leaving his mother for a moment to see other family members. "Hey look! Me and my dad!" Lillie looked over and sure enough there was J.T. standing in a baseball field with his son. Casper looked to be about 6 in the picture and happy as a clam.

"Yeah."

He turned the page again. "Oh wow. Here's something I forgot about. He lifted the book to her so that she could see. She froze and then forced a smile, not sure how she should have felt about the picture. It was a black and white photo that Casper must have taken. The aperture was slightly out of focus and too much light was let in. But all the same you could see what was in the picture. It was the hallway right by her room. She could see it pretty clearly. A small girl with dark hair and eyes wearing a long-sleeved pink shirt and jeans. She looked at the camera full on, standing strait and rigid, not looking completely unhappy, but definitely uncomfortable.

Lillie closed her eyes. The memory was so new to her, still fresh but had that hint of old photo nostalgia fogging it up.

She had been two. That she remembered. She had remembered waking up that morning too. It hadn't been a particularly good morning. Nothing special, just a grey fall morning. Her mother had walked into the room and had told her to get dressed. She had been a smart child. By one she was speaking clearly and in sentences. By one and a half she could read almost any book you placed in front of her. And by two she was picking out her clothes, dressing her self and living a mostly independent life. But of course, she grew at a surprisingly slow rate. And each year, the amount she grew slowed and slowed as immortality kicked in.

It still made her sad to remember. Everyone had thought she was special. She never had felt special. Just alone.

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***Flashback***

_Her mother told her to get in the car. She buckled into the back seat and watched the car just move and her mother climbed in and slammed the door. Her mother loved to slam doors_. _It had been a silent car ride. And a long one._

She was never sure of where she had come from. Memories of signs flashing past her window were still clear. But what they said was a jumbled mess. Trees passed casting their jagged shadow across her small face.

_She kept herself entertained for the whole five hour ride. She tried to see how many clouds in the sky looked like fish. Then she named all the fish she knew to herself, something she had learned in a textbook on a desk somewhere. She looked at trees, seeing just how many leaves she could count before they flew by. Her record had been four. She tried to recall every poem she had ever read, something that didn't really happen since she really couldn't remember that many._

_Finally she gave up and fell asleep._

_Her mother shaking her awake got her to come to her senses. She looked out at the land past her mother arched back as her mother unbuckled her seatbelt. _

_A house on a hill was about a quarter of a mile up, sitting on a hill overlooking the ocean. A lighthouse winked at her every so often. The tall pillars of the house were on fire as the sky around it was a mixture of bright oranges and fierce red's. It might have looked pretty if she was at home. But she was in a strange driveway near a strange house blocked off by a high gate. _

_The gate was the thing that stuck clearest in her mind. It was the first time in many times to come that she felt she was really not supposed to be there. That feeling that she was held back. It had been more literal then when her mother had picked her off and placed her in front of the high iron spokes. She remembered looking up at the sheer height of the gate and feeling small and scared. _

_Her mother went back to the gate and fetched an envelope. She placed it in her small hands and then pushed hard against the gate until a small girl sized gap was made. She nudged her forward and through the crack and then shut the gate._

_She leaned against the bars, holding them tight in her hands, looking more like a prisoner every minute. Her mother bent down and tried to get her to look her in the eye. But Lillie refused, knowing from that moment that a memory of this woman's face that clear would not be good. Her mother ignored the fact that the ground was captivating her daughter's attention more and simply said,_

"_Give the notes to your Uncles. They live there, but they might not know you. The tall one…" She stopped for a moment; either trying to conclude that the Uncle she was thinking of was in fact the tall one or trying hard to say it. "The tall one, his name is… Stretch I think. He had a real name when he was less… of a deadbeat I guess." Her voice was stiff when she said it. "Anyway, find him first and give it to him. He'll know what to do. He always knew what to do." She said the last part silently. Then with one last pat on the head Lillie's mother turned back to the car. Lillie didn't look up until the headlights were on and the woman's face was just a silhouette in the blinding light. Then her mother pulled out and drove off into the now darkened twilight._

_Lillie stood there shivering for a good five minutes. She had no jacket and it was fall. Finally she looked at the letter in her hand and began her trek up the long hill. The gravel in the pathway up was uneven and she tripped more then once trying to avoid them all. As she got closer and closer to the house the air around her got thicker and the sky got darker. She tried to keep her mind busy, pushing the fear bubbling there back as far as she could. She looked around her at the estate's yard. It was a mess, completely broken and torn. And strangely enough it looked abandon. Weeds grew quickly in the yard, reaching out to grab the life out of the very air. Thorns wound around benches long forgotten and unkempt. _

_Even the house from where she was looked abandoned. No light came from the windows, which were cracked and broken. The wood on the side was covered in moss and the cracks were so evident that even from this distant they stood out like sore thumbs. _

_But she continued walking. Partly because she was curious. And partly because she had no where else to go. _

_As she finally reached the steps of the mansion she breathed a sigh of relief. And then one of slight horror. It was an abandoned house, that was for sure. Not even the worst house keepers in the world had houses like this. She walked up the steps and peered in through the front windows. The grime and dust made it hard to see, but she could see al the same. The inside was dusty and dark and the giant foyer, while beautiful, was very creepy. _

_She backed up a bit and looked up at the towering for m of the house that leaned above her. All of it looked creepy. Then something caught her eye. In one of the darkened window's a flash was seen. Nothing big, just a small spark. And then the spark grew and softened as one single candle was light. She watched, her throat tightening in fear. Not for the lighting of the candle. When something happened in a house it meant that someone lived there. But that someone was… no one. She had seen it clearly as it moved from window to window. And in the last window her fear was concluded. The shades had been drawn making the inside visible. And the matchstick lowered to light the candle on the windowsill. And the matchstick moved on it's own. It floated in mid air towards its target._

_So why she still went in she didn't know. Maybe it was curiosity. Maybe it was the fear of the dark outside. Maybe it was the cold. But for whatever reason she slowly grabbed the handle and turned, opening the door into the dark. _

_Her footsteps tapped softly as her small sneakers touched the floor. Looking down she saw it was a rather fancy tile formed to make a large swirl that finished at the very bottom. _

_She stood for a minute looking down at the ground then she turned her eyes upward to look at the large chandelier that hung from the ceiling. Her attention kept switching. From the floor to the large doors around her and then finally on the upper lever balcony that could be reached with large stairs. _

_Taking one last quick and cautious look around she walked across the floor and began to slowly descend the stairs. Each step made her more and more scared, not knowing where she was going or what she would meet up there. But she kept climbing._

_The staircase was one of the longest in the world, and because of the small girl's height, climbing the stairs was the same as climbing a mountain. But she did reach the top eventually. And once she did she looked down at the swirl on the floor and then took a quick glance behind her. There was only one hallway that branched off tow ways. Both ways were very dark and very long. Some moonlight shone through and created boxes and shapes, all etched from the panes of glass that were placed at the end of each._

_While the light may have provided some comfort it didn't add quiet enough to make the walk down the hall easy and comfortable. And it hardly made it a simple stroll. She ended up choosing to go down the right hallway, hoping that right would be the "right" choice. _

_She continued to creep down the dark hallway, avoiding the urge to open doors as she walked past them. _

_And then she heard the growl. It was low and then it went louder then settled and then disappeared. And then it repeated. And it came from the door directly to her left. She sucked in air for courage and slowly opened the door. After her eyes adjusted she saw, with amazement, that the growling was in fact snoring. Three beds were occupied. And their occupants were all covered in quilts and snoring at the exact same time. __**Those must be my Uncles,**__ she thought, glad to have solved the mystery of the 'abandoned' house. She decided to meet them in the morning and not wake them up, what kind of first impression would that be! She closed the door with a soft click. And then she stopped, scared. Not because she heard something._

_Because she heard nothing. _

_The snoring had stopped._

_She opened the door again and was confused when the three beds now held nothing in them. She backed up, scared, leaving the door open._

_But she was stopped as she felt the air around her grow colder and colder with each step. And then it was freezing as she backed up into something cold and tall and thin. She turned slowly to face… something. It seemed to be the end of a curtain, if curtains floated and moved and were so cold. She followed the figure up to it's… face._

_It took her a minute to think. He thoughts crammed together, thinking furiously about what that thing was. And all the while she kept her eyes on the things… sneer? She didn't know sheets could sneer. Then her mind found what it was looking for and shot out one single word._

_GHOST!_

_The ghost must have seen the girl's realization because it's sneer widened. It bent down to her level so that his bright violet eyes met with her dark brown ones._

"_Boo." Was all he said._

_And then she screamed._

_Next thing she knew she was running for her life, going as fast as her small legs could take her. She could hear the shrieks of the violet eyed ghost as he laughed hysterically. Then his shrieks were chorused with two more._

_**More ghosts! **__She thought. __**No one told me about ghosts. Mothe- that woman never said ghosts. She never told me about ghosts. **_

_She could hear the ghosts, now three of them chasing after her. And then, by some unexplained power, one of them popped in front of her breathing green fumes into her face. She tried to run, but ended hitting him square on. The ghost, a gold eyed one, seemed confused for a minute, expecting the girl to have at least run through him. But he made up for it with a shriek. She picked herself running quickly. _

_The hallway branched two ways in front of her. One continued, while the other seemed to be a sort of dead end. She would have continued forward, had a large ghost not hit her in the wrong direction with his stomach. She stumbled over and kept running. Until she hit the dead end. She stared at the wall and then looked behind her. Pressing her back on the wallpaper she stared at the three ghosts. All three somehow had appeared at the opening of the hall and looked ready to barrel forward. She hugged the letter to her chest like a shield. And then she actually remembered that she had it. Her eyes went from the letter to the ghosts repeatedly. It was a stupid idea, but the only one she had. And right now her only weapon was that thin piece of paper in her hands. _

_The ghosts chose that moment to speed towards her, all with a battle cry of __**"Charge!" **__The tallest ghost, the one she had seemed first, was in the lead. She squeezed her eyes shut and with every bit of courage she had she stood her ground and held the letter out, keeping her arm strait as she did. _

_And then she waited for something to happen._

_But nothing did._

_Allowing her self to open one eye slightly, just enough to see, and saw the three ghosts looking at her with confusion. Here was this girl, scared out of her wits, and was now giving them a letter._

"_What da' hell is dat?" Asked the tallest one. His accent was thick with Boston tongue. She just continued to stare at him, not daring to speak. Only standing and holding out the envelope. He was scowling at her so intensely, his violet eyes flickering with confusion and anger. The other ghosts just followed along, something that seemed to be very usual for them. "Well. Are ya' gonna give it ta' me?" The tall ghost asked harshly, holding his hand out. She took a deep breath and scampered forward, placing the envelope in his open palm. Her skin brushed against his and she shivered. She quickly scampered back a few feet. The back ghosts sniggered but the tall one just rolled his eyes._

_He ripped open the casing and grabbed the paper inside. His eyes scanned the writing and then his face changed. His scowl went to a look of surprise and then to angry and then to just plain shocked. He read the text over and over again trying to see if he was just reading something wrong. He looked back at the girl in front of him in amazement. Then he passed the letter back. The three ghosts went into some sort of huddle where they all read the letter at the same time. From time to time one of them would look back at her in shock and then look back at the letter. _

_Finally they broke up and the tall ghost placed the letter on a pedestal next to him. All three turned their eyes to her. She shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot._

"_So?" The tall ghost asked. "You're my sister brat?"_

_It took her a moment to take in everything he said. And then it hit her._

"_You're my Uncle Stretch?" She asked. The ghost looked surprised that she had finally used her voice but then his scowl returned. He was about to say that she could __**not **__call him Uncle Stretch, but then stopped himself. He already had one brat calling him that. One more wouldn't be to bad._

"_Yeah. I am. And these twos are you're your Uncle Stinky," he pointed to the gold eyed ghost, "And your Uncle Fatso." He pointed to the larger ghost. She gave a small smile and a slight wave of her hand. "All right. Now that we've al been introduced, I'm going back to bed. This was a huge wasn't of time. And you, Fleshie, had better do the same. Take the room across from Casper's, he's your cousin. Its second door to the right." And then he left and the other ghosts followed, casting last glances at the new addition to their family._

_Lillie stood stunned for a moment, contemplating what had just happened. She was in a family of ghosts. And then she thought about that strange nickname, one she didn't know would be her dubbed nickname until the end of time. Fleshie. It all stumped her. But finally she gave up, and after following his directions she found her room. She curled up under the heavy dust covered quilt, falling asleep almost immediately, hoping that the next day, her new life would greet her with open arms. _

_It wouldn't._

_

* * *

_

"Lillie? Lillie? LILLIE?" Lillie awoke from her daydream, looking at Casper and smiling sheepishly.

"Sorry. I just had some memories hit me."

"Hm." He looked at her closely. "Was it about your first day?"

"How'd you guess?"

"You had a look of horror"

"Oh, ha ha. Aren't you _hilarious._"

He laughed at her sarcasm and went back to his album. And then the pages began to shuffle n there own. They flipped quickly, passing pictures all in black and white and sepia. She watched it amazed and then seemed to catch on that she was cold. She looked next to her. Yes, the window was opened. But what could have created that much wind to make the window blow open like that, not to mention flipping the pages at the rate they did. She rose to close the window, and then she heard it.

That shrill laughing.

She looked over at her cousin, her eyes wide with fear. She had stayed too long in the attic. If they knew she had been up here…

They looked at each other for a few more seconds and then spontaneously sprinted towards the door, trying to get into positions before all hell broke loose.


	10. Avoiding the Uncles

**God, I am sooooo sorry this took so long! But here it is! SOrry this is kinda short though. But I'm making it up by putting up three chapters tonight. This being one of them. And the others are coming right after. SO enjoy! R&R as always! ANd ideas are always welcome!\**

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Lillie had never considered joining a track team. Sports were one of those things that just didn't pop into her head. She had enough in there anyway. And none of it ever revolved around her. On day's where the trio was out for more then there normal amount and she considered herself lucky, lucky enough to treat her self to an hour reading a book by the fire, she found that she just couldn't.

She would try though. And every time she was sure that it would work. She would sit with her new book in her lap. It would have been plucked freshly from a high shelf in the library; the dust still lingering on it's long faded imprinted words. The pages were yellowed. Not that tallow that looks wrong. The kind that's calming. The kind that let's you know that the book you are about to read was old. But it had _survived._ It had survived everything thrown at it. And that you, holding it, could too. And now it was going to survive another read for you. The smell of those old pages would spread around her fingers, ribbons of age and decay and paper swirling through small clouds of dust.

She would burry her nose into the pages and try so hard to be lost in it's words, as well as the everlasting glow of the fire next to her.

But in the end it never worked. It always ended in the same way.

But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, who is already sick and pale with grief, that thou her maid art far more fair than… _I have to do the dishes._

Then she would shake her head, ridding it from any thoughts of work. _This is YOUR day. Use it. _Then her eyes would return to the words.

Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be… _I have to sweep the floor._

And after about ten interruptions from the two lovers monologue, she would give up, place the book back on it's shelves and save it for another rainy day. But never before giving it one last longing glance and then exiting the room.

She had never been given the chance to finish anything she wanted. Because she was so busy thinking of what she had to do for others. Three others, to be more specific.

So things about her own self-indulgence were never brought up.

But this one time she was actually allowing the thought of herself into her mind. And the thought came as she was sprinting to beat the trio and get to her room before they saw her. She had never really known just how fast she was until she was hurtling though the hallway's, cutting corners viciously and attempting to as quiet as possible.

And so far she was doing a fantastic job. And she decided at that moment that if she ever did go to school, a fact that she was sure would never happen anyway, then she would sign up right away.

The thoughts didn't last long though, as her mind switched from extracurricular activities to her room. The entire house was built in a sort of circular, square-ish shape. At the beginning of the long hallway there was a left and then a right. But whatever way you went, you ended up at the beginning again.

Her room was to the right. Unfortunately the attic stairs were on the left. And crossing in an open area on the upper balcony of the house would leave her in plain sight. And so the long way was the only option.

And by the time she had reached the middle of the circle she was starting to wish she lived in a smaller house. Something with only one room that was two feet wide. Scratch that. She would rather live in a box. That would have saved her.

She continued to run and run. She passed guest rooms, sitting rooms, bathrooms, powder rooms, storage rooms. So many rooms for just one hallway. In a few more seconds she had covered enough ground to at least see her room. Her heart leapt for joy. She was going to make it!

"What in the HELL do ya think you're doin' fleshie?"

Or maybe not.


	11. The Van

**Ok, this one I'm sort of proud of. Yes. It's short. Really short. But I did it so well! This is where we sort of get introduced to our villains. The next chapter is full of getting introduced. But this one just sort of outlines where they are. R&R PLEASE!**

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Two men sat in a van. It was normal enough; it was nothing special one the outside. Of course, what it did resemble could have easily been a kidnappers van if you squinted. But to other passer byers it just looked like a company van. The logo _BioElectricity; A Greener Earth For You and Me_ had been stuck to the side. Bioelectricity happened to be the local power plant that supplied houses with solar powered tiles and antennas so there could be, like it said on their slogan, a greener earth for you and me. People smiled as they passed it, seeing it in front of the lawn of Sarah Yards, a local old widow who had lost her husband recently to heart failure. She never did get many visitors even though she was more then kind and not at all like the stereotypical old witch that people imagined. Perhaps it was the fact that her house resided in front of a long driveway that led directly up to Whipstaff Manor.

As people walked past her house under the sweltering heat of the sun they would pay no heed to the white van parked in the front of her house. It really wasn't a day for thinking anyway. It seemed that, for the day, the sun decided that it would not be fall anymore. And it would most certainly not be nearing the winter months that were just weeks away. So that day the sun peaked to it's hottest day of the fall yet and instead of the crisp weather that was expected a sweltering heat hit Friendship, Maine.

People were forced to venture up to their attics and take out their long resting summer clothing. That day there was not one pair of wool socks in Friendship. Shorts and t-shirts and sundresses adorned the bodies off all the people walking through the towns. Patches of shade and dewy grass was fought over and awnings were packed with people needing the relief of the temperature.

And so to the many people, all dying from the heat of the day, a van in front of the widow Yard's house was nothing to be looked at in questioning. They just assumed the basic, that she was trying for _a greener earth for you and me_ and was having solar panels installed. It didn't even phase them that not once a worker or person in uniform stepped out of the back of the van. But the day was just too hot to care. And so no one did. Strange to think that if someone had a life could have been saved.

But fates strange that way. One turn of the head or an accidental trip could easily result in something fantastic.

In this case the heat of the day and the result of all the hundreds of people who could care less resulted in the death of someone very important. Too bad no one knew that.

But on the other hand if they hadn't then we wouldn't have this story, would we?

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**For those who didnt know, the last chapter before this is just uploaded. SO if you skipped to this one first you're too far ahead. Go back to 10. Thats the newest. K! I'll write more soon to keep everyone happy!**


	12. The Hematologist and the Historian

**THis is it people. My last upload of the day. Yes, I know. Uploads are sort of overdue. But that's why I posted three in one day. But for anyone reading the forward and skipped strait to this chapter, YOU ARE TOO FAR. GO BACK TO 10! THAT WAS THE LATEST ONE! Alright. Now you know. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this one, I always loved writing villains! So you read adn review and I'll write! Deal? Deal! Yaaay! Alright! Have find reading! And dont forget to post or email me any ideas you may or may not have. I love getting those, and I would love them from you too! And chances are I WILL use them! Other people can agree with that. Because I use almost every single one given to me one way or another. So cookies to everyone for their patience and icecream to reviewers and idea givers! Ciao for now! But a new upload will be coming your way soon!**

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Beside looking exactly like a kidnappers van the van in question had a few things strange about it. The windows were rolled up, something that on such a hot day was a bit odd. The windows were tinted giving the van a strange off look. And there were no people in the front seat.

Not that someone could see through the front windows anyway. They would have to lean in until their noses touched the darkened glass to be able to see inside. But the windows were tinted. And there was no one near them to look closely enough to realize that the front of the van was unoccupied.

The back though was occupied.

Two men sat in the back surrounded by, what would seem to be, an entire lab. Small tabled and chairs were set out against the white arched walls of the automobile. On the tables, in plastic sealed containers, sat racks and racks of small test tubes. Some were marked with small pieces of duct and scotch tape, scribbled on in an unruly way with a large black marker. Shelves had been drilled into the metal walls and were, like the tables, covered with test tubes. Not only that though. Books also lined the shelves. Some of these with titles such as _Ghostbusters; Based off Reality_, _Seeing Your First Ghost and Living to Tell the Tale_ and _The Supernatural and Beyond. _These were the more normal books that lined these shelves. And they were also the most unused. Dust covered the better portion of these books and it looked like they hadn't been opened for a year, maybe more. Other books, these more used and used rather recently, sat on the ground open and filled with scribbled notes in the same unruly handwriting as on the test tubes.

_Gods and Goddesses of Olympus_

_The Legends of the Gods_

_The Powers of the Gods and Goddesses and How to Use Them; A Step By Step Procedure of Gaining Your Very Own Powers_

Near to the book stood small cabinets lined with drawers. A few of these were labeled with things like _antiseptic_, _rubbing alcohol_, and _blindfolds. _Other drawers were opened just enough to see inside and catch glimpses of small first aid kits, surgical knives, paring knives and dozens of small syringes.

And near to these drawers sat two men.

The first one was a man who you would never glance at in the street. He was thin, not dangerously so, but enough to see as a little threat. His shoulders were not broad, on the contrary they were very narrow. Two lanky arms hung down at his side, twisting nervously in his lap. He didn't have much muscle, but what he did have showed through his thin physique. He was blonde headed and blue eyed, clean shaven and pasty. And he was nervous. Almost always nervous.

The other man, sitting across from him and paying him no mind, was one that would draw a second glance from anyone. He was bulky. That was all that there really was to say. His skin was tanned and burned from too much time in the sun unprotected, his bald head covered with sharp, dark bristles as was his pointed chin.

Besides looking like a muscle bound hit man this man also bore a look of extreme insanity. His dark eyes glinted constantly with a look of hunger and his features were permanently calm and cool. However the way he held himself showed that he himself knew of this insanity. However, his brain had twisted the thought around until the idea of insanity was formed into the idea that he was positively brilliant. That's the worst kind of insanity. To think oneself brilliant when really the brilliance is a twisted form of madness. That is by far the most dangerous, because when the brain comes up with this it means that all limits that would usually exist in the normal persons conscience and understanding don't exist. No limits. No stopping. No understanding.

Right now this man was staring intently through a pair of binoculars over the front seat of the van and through the windshield of the van. His eyes were pointed directly at the windows of the high and glorious mansion that their car was pointed at. Every so often his eyes would dart from the lenses of the binoculars to the pages of a book of some notes he had taken.

Across form him the other man continued to wring his hands.

This had continued for the last few hours. This unbearable silence.

The nervous one was the first to break it.

"Um…Sh-Shamus?" He addressed the bulky man in front of him.

The man didn't even look away from the house. "What is it, Marcus?"

Marcus looked around for a few more seconds, glancing nervously at all of his surrounding before answering again. "S-sorry to be s-such a bother. But could you tell be… just one more time… what are we doing?"

"I told you before, Marcus."

"I-I-I know. It's just that… well. I'm not a professional…" he squinted at Shamus. "What did you say you were again?"

"A hematologist."

"Ah. Well, I'm not one of… those. In fact, I was never one for the sight of blood." He let out a nervous laugh. "But I never knew that the job of simply studying blood required so much… dedication. Shouldn't you be in a lab and not stalking houses in the middle of a quiet neighborhood?"

Shamus gave a loud laugh, one that was low and gravely. "Oh Marcus, if only you knew." He placed the binoculars down on the table and leaned his arm on his knee. With the other hand he picked up a book off the floor and then he looked Marcus dead in the eye. "This…" He began, his gravely voice low and slow. "is like no other assignment that I will ever have a chance to do."

"I thought they kicked you out of the lab?"

"They did."

"Then-"

"This is a private assignment." He took a cigarette and a lighter out of his back pocket and lit it. Then he took a long drag, slowly exhaling the grey smoke into the already darkened atmosphere. "Those bastards wont know what hit'm. D'ya know why I was kicked out, Marcus?"

"I thought it was for violence?"

Again, the gravely laugh issued. "Please, violence isn't anything in a lab. Giv'm a ring and they'll punch their ways to the grave without any second thought. It's the brains that matters, Marcus. All brains." He took another long drag of the cigarette and then stared at it intently, letting the smoke flow from his nose. "I had an idea. A great one. I had worked on it for years and years. Everything planned. Everything completely ready. But they took one look'n kicked me out."

"What was this idea?"

"Did'n I tell you already?"

"Yes. But it's-it's just a lot to take in."

"Fine." Shamus leaned back in his chair. It squeaked in protest, but didn't break. "Y'see Marcus, I had an idea. A great one. It was…. well. Blood, y'see, can only do so much for ya. It keeps you alive, sure. And you can give it to other people to keep'm alive. But…" He sat up and looked at Marcus like he was game for a lion. "Marcus, have you ever wanted to live f'rever?"

Marcus stared at him for a moment, processing the question in his head. Then he laughed, again with nervous tension in every breath. "Why, Shamus! That's- well that's simply ridiculous. Live forever? That's not possible."

"I didn't ask that."

"Oh." He stopped laughing and stared at Shamus.

"I asked have you ever wanted to?"

"W-well it's something that's passed over all of our minds, I'm sure. But really Mr. Shamus it's not-"

"Well what if it was?" Shamus stood revealing his full height and stepped past the now cowering Marcus toward the front. He glared through the windshield and strait out at the darkened manor of the house. His eyes scanned the cracked windows and the peeling paint and the misshapen gutters. They traced every line of the roof and shingles so perfectly you knew he could tell you exactly what it looked like with his eyes closed. "What if you could do that, live f'rever? Never have to need a doctor? Never have to need medication? Never have to die?" He turned back to Marcus. "Never need to feel pain or discomfort? Never have to watch your loved ones pass away one by one, or see them cry over your dead body when you do?" He advanced, his eyes glinting madly. "Well, Marcus. Would you?" His smile twitched and grew. "And what would'jya do to get it?"

Marcus looked at his hands for a moment, not wanting to stare strait into those dangerous pools that were now looking him so dangerously up and down, waiting for an answer. "Well… um… Mr. Shamus… you certainly do present a convincing argument. But I still don't see how-"

"You a hist'ry teacher?"

"Yes?"

"Ever teach about the Gods and Goddesses?"

"If you mean Greek Mythology then yes, Mr. Shamus, I have."

"What can you tell me about Hades?"

Marcus' face changed at those words. His nervous demeanor switched to a more scholarly look and his posture went from slouched to a studious one. "Hades was lord of the dead. He resigned in… well the Romans called where he lived Hades. The Greeks were the ones who technically called him that. He helped to sort of keep track of the dead and to rule the other realms of earth."

"Very good teach. Now let me tell you something. What if I told you that rather recently all of 'em disappeared."

"All of what?"

"The God's."

"Mr. Shamus, please keep this imagination of yours-"

Shamus held up a hand to silence him, and quick as a switch Marcus had snapped his jaw shut. "No, you listen to me. I a'int lying to you. This is all true. They disappeared just a few years ago, they're time was up. But before they disappeared one of them broke an oath. An oath never to let another person, another mortal, bear their child." His eyes went back to the house. "An' one of them broke that oath. Hit it up with a woman in South Carolina in a small karaoke bar called _Royals_. Nine months later his, Hades', kid was born."

"Mr. Shamus. I-"

"Let me speak! Anyway, nine months later the woman has his kid, a girl. She get's none of his powers though. No. The God's were to weak to pass on anything then. Just heat."

"So all this girl can do is make her skin hot?"

"No. It's nothing; she can control."

"And how do you know this, Mr. Shamus."

"I'm getting to that. Anyway, so this girl has the strangest things passed on. Nothin' powerful or special. 'Sept she can touch ghosts."

It was then that Marcus broke. "GHOSTS! Mr. Shamus! First the God's and now… NOW THIS! I was hired by you simply to help with the ideas and beliefs of ancient Greek history. I am NOTHING but a history teacher. Not some ghost… catcher. Now I want to leave. And I want to leave now." He stood staring Shamus, sizing him up and trying hard not to crack. But under the cool gaze of the unfazed Shamus it was getting harder and harder. And when Shamus finally did speak, Marcus found it to be a tremendous relief.

"Mr. Marcus."

"Mr. Shamus?"

"I am giving you this one opportunity." Shamus advanced, but not in a threatening way. In a way when ones soul is to be taken by the most charismatic of salesmen. "I am giving _you_," he repeated, "the opportunity to live forever. With no strings attached. Now it's up t'you whether you want it or not. If you do, then sit down and let me continue. If you don't then get out."

After a few seconds Marcus sat down. Shamus smiled. "Very good. Now where was I?"

"Touching ghosts?"

"Ah. Yes, thank you. So this girl possesses the strangest and most useless forms of energy. Processing heat like a factory, for instance. And being able to touch the dead. All of these traits are useless, I promise you. And they protect her against anything as much as out bodies protect us. But the one useful thing she does possess is immortality. The power to live forever. It would seem that the juice of life itself almost flows through her veins being pumped out by that delicate little heart of hers."

"Delicate?"

"Ah, very good. You noticed. Yes, you see she's only half God. And not even a God at that. Her immortality only stretches far enough for human limits to take."

"That- that makes no sense." Marcus advanced. "Elaborate, please?"

"She is half human, you understand?" He got a nod in return. "Well, every human has his or her limits. If we get shot in the arm, we get weak. If we get shot in the leg, we get weak. If we get shot in the heart-"

"We die."

"We die, Marcus. Yes. We die. And if she get's shot in the heart, she dies as well. Her immortality can only work so long as her limits are not being tested. However it's the only part of her that doesn't… get taken. Y'see, as soon as soon as she dies, her heat runs out. It's as simple as that. The heat is the only power that she possesses that isn't a power."

"Can she get rid of it?"

"Technically, no. But we can. " He walked over to the table and drew a test tube out of the case. "Her heat is produced by her heart. Every time it pumps another flow of blood through those veins a wave of heat comes with it. Her heart stops working, even once, and all of that just goes away. But all of the rest of it stays. The immortality, the ability to touch ghosts, all of that runs in her blood."

"Mr. Shamus are you- are you suggesting." Marcus' eyes widened. "Mr. Shamus I will not take part in the killing of a girl!"

"Calm yourself Marcus, there's no need to worry. We don't need her life. She can keep her heat to herself. We aren't aiming at stopping her hear here. All's I'm saying is that we need something else from her."

"And that would be?"

"Blood."

"THAT IS JUST-"

"Disgusting." He cut in, already knowing the comments that were about to fly his way. "Revolting? Sick? Yes, believe me I know. I've heard it before. But it's not really. She's not human, Marcus. She's an it."

"You're crazy."

"Am I?"

"Clearly. Risking the life of a young girl is not a light ordeal."

"What's one life to 5 million? Think, Marcus. Use that brain of yours. If we take her blood, study it, learn what makes it work; we can save millions of lives. There's a chance she won't die. But we won't really be taking precautions to save her life."

"That's sick."

"Marcus, the chances of her surviving are little to none anyway. That much blood from one person is insanity in itself. We all need an amount to function, even she does. All we need to do is inject her with this and we'll be fine." He looked through another drawer until he came out with clear liquid in a vial. "Pure liquid salicin. This isn't what you find in stores. This is without anything else, untouched by any other reducer. Its main purpose alone is to reduce fever and bring down heat. We need her blood to be running when we take it, so the temperature must be controlled. Metal melts on contact I'm sure. A few nights ago might have been easier, but she contracted a fever. Now that she's recovering, that'll make it all easier."

He put everything in it's respective places while Marcus sat in his chair and thought. He couldnt believe it. Here was some man n front of him talking about death like a day at the park. There was no way that he was getting involved… but the idea of immortality. What if it was true, that he could live forever? What if the man wasn't as crazy as everyone credited him to be. Fine, but he had to draw lines. "Shamus." He began. Shamus turned. "I want to help. Truly, I do. Not only would this aid in fields of physical science, but historic as well."

"So are you in.

"Yes. On one condition."

"Name it."

"We keep the girl alive."

Shamus sighed. "Marcus, the amount of blood that we need-"

"Then don't take too much. Listen, I'm not crazy. I don't want to kill. I'm not in love with the idea of living forever, nor will I let myself become infatuated with it. SO go by my terms or find someone else. You did need two people, didn't you?"

"Yes. I did." He thought, staring Marcus, who had begun to wring his hands again, in the eye. There was something there, Shamus saw it. Trapped behind his eyes, too far to truly see it. But not far enough to miss it. He had it too. Hunger and insanity. It was just masked with all of his nervousness. But it was there. And he was sure he could make it come out. "Alright, you have a deal." They shook hands and then sat back down. "Now, here's the girl." He handed Marcus a picture that looked like it had been taken recently. She was looking up and seemed to be talking to someone. Rain was pouring down making her dark hair cling to her face. Her clothes were wet and her eyes squinted through a downpour of rain. In her hand she held a shovel. Whoever she was talking to, though, wasn't shown.

"How did you get this?"

"I took it. I've been watching her for a while now. How'd you think I know all those things. It took me forever just to find the mother thought. She passed away 'bout a year ago. But rumors spread quickly in that town that her daughter was still alive and living with some relatives. The relatives are never home. Drinker's, the lot of them." He went back to his binoculars and stared, once again, out the front window.

"She's pretty." Marcus commented.

"Yeah. An' shell always look like that."

"Lucky her."

"Lucky her? Lucky us. Soon we'll look like this forever. Never changing, never growing."

"When is soon."

Shamus looked away and directly at Marcus and smiled. "I'd say tonight."

* * *

**Shamus was the first name that popped into my head. But I think it suits him! And Marcus, there's something wrong with him too. But what? You'll find out later. But anyway, yes these are the villains. Marcus claims not to be, but anyone who willingly agrees to harm a small girl... or anyone for that matter. Theres something twisted about that. Anyway, tell me what you want to see next. **

**Actually heres a fun idea! Lts have a contest!**

**Give me a chore, something you hate to do. Something outside. Whoever gives me the best answer of something that could land Lillie outside when Marcus and Shamus decide to strike get's a cookie and their idea used. **

**Please participate! It's more fun with people!**

**Love you all and good luck!**

**~Galimatias**


	13. The TwoMile Weed

**This one was hard to write. But I think I did ok. As usuall read and review!**

**P.S. thanks to **A**nimationNut and Dreamcreator for their ideas! Yeah, I'd hate to do that too!**

* * *

Usually she fought. She was never one for going down without a chance to redeem her self. But this time she knew it was over before it had even begun. As soon as she had heard his voice it was all over for her. This wasn't something she could fight for. It was a simple one-sided thing. He had caught her. She had lost. That's all there was to it.

Not to say she didn't want to fight back. She did. But as she sat in the large red chair, fiddling with her sleeve and biting her bottom lip she watched him pace back and forth angrily, floating a bit faster then normal, and decided from that moment on to just agree with everything he said, nod a lot, and to otherwise keep her mouth shut. It was going to be bad as it was.

And she was right. Stretch was angry. It wasn't his worst time, he had been angrier at the Fleshie before. And this, compared to some of the other things she had done, was nothing. But Stretch, as a ghost, was a bit of an over reactor, as were his brothers. And he knew it. He turned some situation that needed no explaining into a full on trial. And right at that moment he was gathering the evidence. As she watched his face change slightly every few seconds she could almost pin point ever punishment that would come her way.

She had been getting out of bed. He had ordered her to stay in.

First offence.

That would probably give her a week of cleaning the kitchen with a toothbrush.

Running back to avoid the prospect of being caught.

Second offence.

That one would maybe get her a week and a half of library duty.

Being in the attic.

Third offense.

Stinky might make her shovel out more of the lawn all day.

The radiator by the door trick.

Fourth offence.

Fatso would have her on kitchen duty for the month.

And all of these were considered by them, lenient. These were punishments she got solely for slacking or vacuuming the carpet wrong. The same with Casper. But her "crime" had been, apparently a little more then deserving of lenient charges. And so as she ran the list through her head she waited for the big one. The one she knew was coming. The chore dubbed by her and Casper as the "big one". The job to end all jobs. She bit her lip as Stretch turned to face her.

_Here it comes. _She thought.

"Alright Fleshie. Here's what were gonna do. You're gonna clean the kitchen for the next week. Usin notin but-"

"A toothbrush." She interrupted him. "Yes, I know."

He glared at her. "You had better watch dat mouth of yers, Fleshie. But yeah. And then yer gonna be fixin' up the library for da next week an'a half."

_Wow. Two right so far._ She checked off in her head. _What's up next?_

"That's all I have fer now. Stinky?"

_It's going to be the lawn. I just know it's going to be the-_

"Lawn duty."

_Score. _She thought dryly.

Stretch nodded. "Sounds fair."

_Fair? Really?_

"Fatso?" He turned to the youngest brother. "Ya got anything."

"Oh trust me. I think she knows." He patted his large gut and smiled at Lillie.

She just rolled her eyes. "Kitchen duty. I know, I know."

"For how long?" He pressed, smiling wider. Behind him Stretch and Stinky snickered.

"For the month." She mumbled angrily.

"Good!"

Behind all of them Kat and Dr. Harvey stood, shaking their heads. Kat looked ready to interject, but Casper held her back. Lillie reminded her self to thank him later. Having Kat get involved would only make her own punishment worse. And right now it was lenient. .To have it get worse would be suicide.

"An' as for you, Bulb Head."

Casper grimaced. It was so obvious that he was going to be pinpointed as a person involved in the crime. Neither one of them ever went without getting an undeserved punishment. "I want the gazebo done tomorrow. Swept, hosed an' repainted. Got it?"

"Yes Uncle Stretch." He mumbled.

"Yes Uncle Stretch." Lillie added at the same time. Stretch swiveled to look at her, one eyebrow raised.

"What are you talkin' about Fleshie. Your punishment a'int over yet, yunno."

"What! But that's just not-" She looked over to Casper who was zipping his mouth shut quickly. So she did the same by snapping her mouth shut and looking down, defeated.

"Better. Now I think you know exactly what I'm gonna give ya. But just to be sure, why don't ya tell me, Fleshie?"

She sighed. _And there it is._ She thought, mournfully. "The Two-Mile Weed." She said under her breath.

"The Two-Mile Weed." He confirmed. "And I want it done tonight."

"But it's 10 o'clock at night!"

"Then I'd get started if I was you!"

She sighed, but gave up, nodding. "Yes Uncle Stretch." She got off the chair slowly and headed out towards the kitchen to get out the back door and get to shed for the tools.

The Two-Mile Weed was what the Trio called it. Of course to her, though she'd never say it out loud to them, she was in truth doing the chore of all chores. The "Big One". It wasn't a necessary chore. But then again, none of the chores that they were given were eve necessary. Ghosts didn't need clean houses. They didn't need their gazebos painted or their kitchens swabbed.

And they didn't need servants. Especially when those servants were their very own flesh and blood.

But they did have all those things, and life went on. But for Casper and Kat it never seemed to move. The countless chores were repetitive. And on Lillie's body and health they were tiring. Though ghost did get tired and sleep, they didn't have bones for hard work to take a toll on.

But she never complained, or at least tried not to.

But right now she felt like complaining as she stood on the steps of their house looking down the hill.

The hill was long. It was, to be exact, two miles. Two miles from the porch to the iron gate at the very en . Both sides were blocked off by walls of bricks and right in front of those were dead flowers, brown grass and other such ugly plants. It never looked charming or pretty. And so the hill itself stayed as dead as the house and the people living in it. It was the driveway to hell, as she had heard Dr. Harvey say once. She chuckled at that before. But now it was actually closer to the truth then anything. Because right now she had to make her way down the hill at 10 o'clock at night and weed the grass on both sides by the stone wall.

She walked over, feeling the backpains to come already. She dropped to her knees on the grass and began. Using her hands she pulled out every visible weed she could see. Some took a few seconds, some longer. It had been a while since this punishment had been dumped on either one of them. And the amount of time had allowed the weeds to truly plant their roots.

The process of pulling out weeds went on for a few minutes. And when she looked up she was to her dismay that she had hardly moved a foot. She growled under her breath.

This was going to be a long night.

* * *

"Duct tape?"

"Check."

"Rope?"

"Check."

"Needles?"

"Check."

"Surgical knives?"

"Ch- wait what?" Marcus glanced up at his partner in shock.

Shamus just rolled his eyes. "We need to at some point cut a vein. The more blood we get the better." Marcus opened his moth to say something, but Shamus just held up a hand. "Don't worry, nothing major. We aren't cutting an artery. Sure, she'll bleed for a little while, but that'll be all. Dizziness will be the only after effect. Not death."

Marcus calmed down a bit and went back to the list. "How are we gonna catch her. Her uncles are home. I saw the light on."

"Oh trust me. It's gonna be easier then we thought. Take a look." Shamus handed Marcus the binoculars. He peered through. It took a minute for the darkness to settle. But after a few moment shapes began to form. Then he saw it. At the top of the hill, under the pale yellow light, kneeled a girl. She looked to be gardening. Every few seconds she would wipe off her brow with the back of her hand.

"What is she doing?"

"I dunno. But whatever it is, it's perfect. I'm guessing she's gonna move farther down. We're gonna get out of the car when she starts to move down hill."

"So what, we just go up and grab her?"

Shamus looked through the binoculars one last time and then put them down. "No. She cant know we're here. We have to stick to the shadows and make sure no one can see us. Getting' up will be the easy part. Getting' down? That's hard."

"I always thought downhill was easiest."

"Sure. On a bike and on a stroll. Have you ever done it with a screaming kicking girl in yer arms?"

"Oh. Cant say I have." Marcus rubbed the back of his neck. "But if she's screaming-"

"Duct tape."

"And I don't want her to kick m-"

"Rope."

"Ah. You do think of everything. Don't you?"

"It's part of the job."

Silence took over the car again as both men watched the girl. Her progress was slow, and as the minutes rolled past it got slower.

"How long do we have to wait?" Marcus asked.

"As long as it takes, Marcus." He started to toy with the end of the surgical knife. "As long as it takes."

* * *

She was almost disappointed with herself at this point that she had brought a watch. She was a little more than halfway down the hill and time was still going on. Every so often she'd check that accursed watch. It had been three hours. Three hours and she still had a ways to go. It was now 1 o'clock in the morning and she could feel herself passing out.

Looking down the hill one last time she sighed, and resumed her work. The trio had long ago went to bed. As had Casper and Kat and Dr. Harvey. While she was still doing the one chore she hated the most. She glared down at her watch, resisting temptation, and picked at a few more longer weeds, wrenching them from the ground.

* * *

2 o'clock. Marcus had fallen to sleep at about 12:30. But at 2 o'clock someone shook him awake. The van, if it was at all possible, had grown darker. Shamus had opened the back doors of the van and had the duct tape around his wrist and well as a rope around his arm.

"C'mon Sleeping Beauty. Let's get a move on."

Marcus followed, stealthily creeping after the man. He could see her from even here. She was just a few meters from the gate itself. Her work had slowed down too much to describe and he could see her features drooping. She was off guard, better for him. After all, he was new to this.

"Ok." Shamus started. He peeled open the front of the gate trying to make sure the girl didn't hear. She didn't seem to have noticed. "Stick to the shadows and follow me."

Marcus nodded and did as such.

The two of them crept behind the low brick wall that bordered the driveway. It was only about three feet high, but it was enough to cover what darkness couldn't. They continued to creep along. Soon he could see the top of her head. And in another minute he could hear her fingers dragging along the dirt.

_What is she doing?_ He thought. _Some strange Goddess ritual?_ So engrossed in his thoughts he was that he didn't see Shamus change his footing to step over a stick. And he walked right onto it.

_Snap_

He froze. That wasn't good. He stayed quiet for another minute. It was too quiet, he realized. She had stopped digging. He heard the sound of someone lifting themselves off the ground. At first he believed to be Shamus. But then he saw for himself the girl raised to her full height.

She wasn't tall. Just over 5 foot. Her hair was dark as were her eyes. Right now they were large and full of suspicion and fear. She swiveled her head a few times and then began to daintily walk back. The rocks of the drive stayed quiet under her slow feet. Marcus made a move to advance forward and grab her at her slowest point, but Shamus stopped him.

"Don't." He whispered, almost too quiet to hear. "Don't make a move until she run's. She wont hear us over her feet. And the more chaos the better. She wont know what hit her."

"But what it-"

"Marcus," he said assuringly. "She will run. Trust me. They all run."

Marcus let himself go quiet and just went back to watching the girl. She was still walking as if on eggshells. Every step began with the toe and ended on the ball of her foot. She kept her pack even and her moves light.

And then she stopped. Her head checked every direction once more.

And just like Shamus had predicted, the girl ran. Her feet scraped against the rocks as her shoes protested the sudden outburst. Rocked flew behind her as she tried to sprint her way up the hill away from danger.

But Shamus was faster.

With a quick leap he had jumped the wall and was after her. Marcus watched as the girl twisted her head around and let out a strangled scream. She put her head down and ran faster. But by then Shamus' arms had hooked around her. He had tactfully broken off a piece of tape and before her scream left her mouth the piece of sticky silver closed it off.

She kicked and wriggled and made strange strangled noises from her throat. But in the end it was no use.

Shamus threw her over his shoulder and bounded back to the van, Marcus in tow.

"Open the back." He wheezed, weighed down. Marcus did as he was told and pulled the two doors open. "Ok, now hold her."

"What? No!"

"Marcus, I gotta tie her up. Now hole her."

"But she'll kick me!"

Shamus sighed and shook his head, but did grab a strip of black cloth from the floor of the van. Without a second thought or hesitation he tied it tightly around the girls head, cutting her vision off completely. "Better now?" Marcus nodded. Shamus handed the girl over. With her vision gone seeing what she was aiming for wasn't an option. And after Shamus had tied her hands behind her back and her ankles were bound as well she was at their mercy.

Shamus chuckled. "See now, that wasn't so hard."

Marcus didn't laugh. He just dumped the girl on the floor of the van and hopped in, closing the door after. "What now?"

"Isn't that simple?" Shamus asked. "The juice of life is ours, Marcus."

"But-"

"No, not to much. You've made yourself clear on that." Don't worry, we'll put her on the front porch right after and play ding dong ditch. She'll be fine after a long rest."

Marcus looked ready to back out. He looked at the squirming girl on the floor She was trying so hard to get out, trying so hard to be free. His heart throbbed and he wanted nothing more in that one minute then too just take off the bondage and let her go.

"Immortality Marcus." Shamus said.

And that was enough. "Ok," Shamus looked away from the girl. "What do we do now?"

Shamus smiled. The first piece of defense in Marcus' eyes was turning off. Insanity, pure and sweet, ,was beginning to make it's way into those baby blues. One more deal and he'd have him. "Now," he held up a knife and a test tube. Then he handed Marcus a syringe.

* * *

As the boys carried Lillie off into the night they had failed to look at one other thing. The house. In the window a light, coming off of something pale and translucent, glowed for just a minute. Then quickly it disappeared.

* * *

She hadn't been ready. For any of it. As soon as that snap had echoed through the night she had known something was wrong.

And something was deffinitly wrong when someone had started to run after her. And after he had grabed her.

She had tried to call for help. The beginning of Stretch's name had begun to roll off her tongue when her mouth had been sealed. She had seen the man for a brief second. Him and his partner. One, husky and rough. The other wimpy with blonde hair and shockingly blue eyes. Then it went to black.

First her voice. Then her vision. Then her arms and legs.

She had been thrown into the van, her arms hurt from the impact and she could feel the long bruise beginning. But that was the least of her problems. All she could think about was that she was going to die.

_I'm going to die. Please don't let me die. Not today. Please. I'm going to die. But I don't want to. Not yet._

She must have said that at least a hundred times.

And each time it became more and more terrifying.

But not quite as bad until one of the mans hands wrapped firlmly around her arm in a tight grip, cutting off her circulation. And then she felt it. A prick. A needle bedded deep into her skin and something was inserted. She could feel it. Everything felt wrong. Cooler and colder.

Then again the prick came. But this time it took out something. Again and again. She tried to protest, to call out, but nothing.

"This isnt fast enough." One man had said.

The other had agreed.

_Not fast enough?_ She thought _For what?_

Then agony began.

Deep and thin, a slick. Someone had cut her.

Something had sliced a deep line into her very skin. She felt warmth srawl down her arm. Then something made of glass had touched her.

She tried to scream. Tears, warm and fresh, pricked at her eyes.

_Ow ow ow ow ow!_

Again the cut and again the glass. And again the cut and again the glass.

She was going to die. She was going to die. She was going to-

_Crash_

Next thing she knew, chaos had ensued.

* * *

**Cliffhanger! Don't worry this is not near the end of the story. But what did cause all the chaos? And what was that light in the window. Take a guess why don't you? And in the next chapter your questions will be answered!**

**Till next time!**

**~Galimatias**


	14. Wake Up Call

**OMG! This took way too long, I know. Sooooo sorry! Alright. This is the next chapter (obvi on my part lol) so enjoy. R&R with any ideas/suggestions please! I love suggestions, really!**

* * *

It had been purely by accident. Casper had never meant to wake up so early in the morning. He had been hoping for a good nights sleep, but when he did finally wake and darkness still clung to his vision he knew that he had wished for too much. He had risen and walked around. He had tried drinking warm milk. He had tried flying circles around the spiral tiles in the foyer. He had even made his fingers into sheep and counted until he reached four. But everything seemed to not work.

His idea had finally been to wake Lillie up. It wasn't the greatest idea, but he could have asked to bunk with her for a while. A switch of environment sometimes helped. However after traveling across the hall and opening the door he found that she wasn't in bed. Somehow this made him all the happier. If she was still weeding the night away then maybe manual labor could make him more tired.

He went over to her window. Through it he could see the long path that zigzagged strait up to the house. He went back to his desk and grabbed the flashlight in his drawer. He flicked it on experamentaly. Nothing. He shook it as hard as he could, tapping it against the palm of his hand. The beam came to life and shone through the room. Casper slid the window open and pointed the flashlight outside. Then he frowned. He could see the path fairly clearly and to his better knowledge it looked done. In fact, the entire path that he could see looked done. But she wasn't there.

His eyes widened as he spotted movement at the end of the path and he smiled. There she was. He flicked off the flashlight and placed it on the window sill and then flew off into the night.

He stayed low as he floated down the path. Every so often he'd pluck at a weed that she had missed, throwing it over the wall. He kept his eyes wary, ready to see her early so he could warn her of his arrival and not scare her by popping up behind her. At two in the morning her senses of awareness were not the best.

He stayed strait and continued to follow the path down. Once or twice he did look up at one of the windows of the house to make sure one of the Trio hadn't woken up at his departure and had decided to check if he was cheating. But it looked calm enough and after the second time checking all of his nerves were settled and he was left happily cruising over the gravel.

"-gotta go, quick."

Casper stopped in his tracks. What he had heard couldn't have been there, but he was so sure. It had been a males voice. Low and threatening. He stayed still and strained his ears. For a minute he heard nothing, then again another voice broke through the dark, this time farther away. Whoever it was was moving, and fast, away from Whipstaff.

"I know I know. But she wont stop-ur-moving!"

His first idea was another group of stupid daredevils, trying to get a picture from inside of the house. But there was something about what they had said that just didn't seem right.

_She wont stop moving._

That was it.

Casper snuck closer. There was only one possible she at the moment. And that one was no where to be seen.

If he had a heart, a literal one, it would have been beating freakishly fast.

He followed close, taking away all visibiliyy so he could find out what was going on with no chances of being seen.

As he got closer he saw he had been right. It was two men he had heard.

The first one he saw was a gangly fellow. The second was larger with a bag of flour over his shoulder. No, not a bag, bags didn't move. Whatever Casper saw slung over that man's shoulder was kicking and twisting with all of it's might.

Casper flew as fast as he could, catching up to the two men and got close enough to see what it was the burly one was holding.

It was Lillie.

Casper's hand flew to his mouth in order to hold back his own cry of surprise. His mind raced and blurred with possobilities and outcomes.

He needed to stop them, and fast.

But…

As he watched them go down the back and near to a truck he weighed down everything against him. He could outwit the men, after all he was a ghost. What could they do to him. Trap him in a vacume bag? He'd get out eventually. And that was about it.

But they could hurt Lillie.

He needed help, fast. He knew where to get it, of course. It was right up the driveway. The only issue was getting help to come. That could take a bit of time. And what if help decided not to.

He shook his head, no that was impossible. They'd have to help. They werent that cold hearted.

And with that bit of positive reassurance in mind he made a sharp u-turn and flew as fast as he could back up to the house.

Through the window into the hall and then stopping outside of a room he never dared enter. Ever.

There were thousands of rules in the house and one of the top ones, one that had been renforced many many times was the fact that that room was off limits. Except when invited. Which at this time he hadn't been.

Casper took a deep breath. _For Lillie, _he thought. And then he cautiously floated through the wood.

Stretch didn't like being woken up. Ever. He had scared Fleshies and punished the brats for it. He had gotten into fouler moods and made everyone miserable when it happened. And so it tended to happen very little.

So when he found himself being shaken violently awake at around 3 in the morning, he was not happy. And that was putting it lightly.

"What the 'ell is goin' on?" He slurred, sitting up. He wiped the sleep out of his eyes and stared at the one who had dared wake him. Casper.

This wasn't boding well.

His eyes lit up with hell fire as he stared his nephew down.

"Casper! How _DARE_ you-"

"We have to go!" Casper replied quickly, pulling on his arm. "_Please_ Uncle Stretch. We have to go and get her."

"I ain't goin' nowhere 'till you tell me why the hell I'm awake!"

"There isnt time!"

At this point the yelling between Uncle and Nephew had awoken the other two sleeping ghosts who had risen drowsily to glare at the youngest ghost in the room, all looking murderous.

"I can't believe this!" Stinky began, through his teeth.

"Yeah." Fatso floated too close for comfert, punching his fist into his hand. "Some of us need out beauty sleep, ya know. You want some?"

"Please! They're taking her!"

"I'll give you one chance ta' leave, or else you'll be…" he thought for a minute. "No, you an' the Fleshie'll be sweepin' the backyard."

"But that's just it! They're taking-"

"Casper, I'm warnin' ya!"

"Lillie's out there. They took Lillie!"

Stretch forgot whatever threats he was about to say. He only looked at his nephew, confused. "What…"

"Two guys… they took her…"

"Okay, just calm down. Who took who?" Fatso was first to ask a real question.

"I don't know. Two men. One was really big and the other… he was kinda nervous. An'… and she was coming back up and they just jumped out and grabbed her."

Stretch reacted faster then Casper had ever seen him. "Okay boys, emergency scare raid. Short Sheet, you better be tellin' the truth on dis one."

"I swear!" He took a deep breath. "What are they… what are they gonna do to her?"

"Notin'. Not if we have anythin' ta say about it."

Casper nodded and watched as his Uncles flew off into the night, desperately hoping that this one scare raid would do something usefull.

Because out of all the others, this one was the only one that counted.

At least to him.

* * *

**The next chapter will come sooner than this one did! Remember to R&R with ideas! Thanks a ton.**

**P.S. I'm thinking of doing a story of oneshots when this story nears its end. And at the same time, I've also been thinking of a sequal. The sequal has no gore, as apposed to this one. But a ton of angsty stuff that I'll explain later. Plus a few holes that need filling!**

**Peace out!**

**~Galimatias**


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